The Wolf You Feed
by FriendsWithTheMonster
Summary: Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC
1. Chapter 1

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 1****:**

Peter's fingers curled tighter in the loose material of her t-shirt as he clung to her possessively, the material bunching around his hand, revealing the tiniest hint of her belly button. There was something about the brunette lying next to him that made him want to be next to her as often as he possibly could, especially after almost losing her to the Nogitsune. She wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she wasn't someone who would normally stand out, she would be the first to admit it to him, but yet she had a hold on him, as if her fingers were wrapped gently around his heart and no matter how much he tried to push her away, her grip would not loosen.

Peter Hale wasn't the type of man who usually went after girls, especially ones like her. She was broken, somewhat unstable and incredibly independent but yet he was constantly drawn to her, from the second she knocked on his apartment door and not so kindly asked for a place to stay.

He relaxed his grip on her oversized t-shirt and rolled away from her as she continued to sleep, not even aware of the possessive hold he once had on her. Peter shifted his body behind hers before casually draping his arm over her side, slipping his hand up to grab hold of hers, which was stuffed under the pillows.

Sydney let out a low moan and stretched out her legs, straightening them before bringing them back up, almost curling her body into the fetal position. Leaning forward, Peter gently pressed a kiss to her shoulder and tightened his hold on her. A light humming sound emanated from her throat and before he could object, she was rolling over, her face mere inches from his as they lay side by side.

"You're going to be late." Peter murmured and flattened his palm against the small of her back, his skin connecting with hers underneath the t-shirt.

"Shh, quiet time." She mumbled and scooted her body closer to his, chests now pressing together. Sydney tucked her head under his chin and slid her palm around his torso, clinging to him now as she wiggled in a lam attempt to get comfortable again.

Peter fought off the chuckle that was threatening to sound out in the room and focused instead on memorizing every dip and curve of her body. He knew that she was fully capable of handling herself in dangerous situations, she was a powerful alpha and very skilled when it came to the werewolf lifestyle, but that didn't mean he wasn't still nervous about her little trip.

It wasn't too long ago that every time he let her run off, she'd always come back to him worse for wear, if she came back on her own at all. There were multiple times that Derek had called for him and when he arrived he had found his nephew cradling her limp, unconscious body. Then there was the time that he answered his cell phone and one of the twins informed him that Sydney was gravely injured and they weren't sure she was going to make it.

She had made it, if only for his desperate, and successful, attempt to draw out her pain until his alpha spark diminished, leaving her just barely alive. He had promised himself that after all of that, he wasn't going to let her get away, not without one hell of a fight.

She had been rather reluctant to tell him about the search party that Scott McCall was putting together for Derek; Peter knew she wasn't comfortable talking to him about her desire to go with them, to Mexico no less. In fact, with a little prodding and convincing, Peter had found out that Stiles Stilinski had actually asked her if she'd be willing to help them out, to travel alongside the remaining members of Scott's pack while they attempted to seek out Derek and bring him back.

"They're going to leave without you." Peter pressed and ran his hand through her hair, his fingers tangling in her locks at the back of her neck.

"Mexico's hot right?" Sydney groaned in response. "I don't do well with hot."

"What if I offered you a cold shower when you get back?" He teased and she tilted her head back, her eyes fluttering open to meet his.

"Fuck." She grumbled and nuzzled her face into the pillow. "I don't want to get up."

Peter would never admit it out loud but having Sydney head to Mexico with Scott and his pack could potentially benefit him. At least with her on the inside, there was definitely potential to gain some information regarding the true alpha, not to mention the Banshee and the kitsune that he had aligned himself with.

"You were so excited to go to Mexico though." Peter baited. "Remember what you said."

"Of course. I said that my grandma never would have let me go to Mexico when I was a teenager, especially without adult supervision."

"You're their adult supervision, aren't you?" Peter smirked and leaned back, putting a little bit of space between their bodies. Sydney rolled away from him but turned her head to meet his gaze.

"That's really sweet of you to call me an adult but you and I both know that's horribly inaccurate. I'm hardly an adult and even if I am, I'm not a very responsible one." She countered but found herself smiling at her words. "I did tell Stiles that I would go though."

"You can't disappoint Stiles."

If his tone was meant to be teasing, she didn't catch on. She was very well aware of his opinion on Stiles and while Peter Hale respected the kid, there was definitely a sense of jealousy at how close Sydney and the puny human had gotten. Blaming him wasn't easy though, she knew how tough it must have been for him, especially when she had run away from Peter to get to Stiles, to help the poor boy. She figured he was doing really well not to just kill the Stilinski boy, but that didn't make it any easier.

Reassuring him that the trip to Mexico was in Derek's best interest had been easy. Peter was slightly psychotic but he definitely still cared about his family, especially when Derek was almost all that he had left. It helped a lot that Sydney was his best friend and when Stiles had said those haunting words, 'we're going to get Derek', she knew that she couldn't just sit in Beacon Hills waiting for their half put together plan to go awry.

"You're adorable when you're jealous." She remarked in a low, sultry tone.

"Don't call me adorable." He countered.

"Ha, so you _are_ jealous?" She smiled lazily at him. "Hmm jealous Peter is a sexy Peter."

"I'm not jealous-"

"I'd be jealous, I'm going to Mexico with the kid who has a crush on me, maybe we're planning to elope."

Her smile faltered as the pressure of his grip increased. She sucked in a breath of air and held it in her lungs, waiting for him to get angry. Angry Peter could easily turn into scary Peter.

"You're _not_ eloping." He growled and she tensed in his hold. Slowly and carefully she brought her hands up, slipping her palms against his shoulders before leaning in close to him.

"Not with Stiles anyways." She purred and felt his muscles go rigid. Apparently she had gotten the desired effect of her words because a second later she was leaning into his body, her lips pressing against his.

Peter moved his head away from hers after a few seconds and he looked down at her. She forced the red in her alpha eyes to the surface and he felt the slight pull on his body. Technically she was his alpha and she knew that he'd submit to her when she wanted him too but that didn't mean he liked it. Ideally he wanted to be an alpha too but in order to keep her alive, to keep her by his side, he had made a sacrifice.

"Don't do that." He scolded and flashed his icy blue eyes back at her.

"Don't do _what_?" She asked, feigning innocent.

"Don't try to overrule me with your alpha look."

"I like your eyes that colour." She whispered and pressed her nose against his. "Blue eyes of a killer."

"Sydney-"

"Are we really going to do this again? Now you're all upset because you're not my alpha anymore. I never asked you to give up your alpha spark so you don't get to blame me for that." She huffed and rolled away from him, flopping onto her back on the patch of bed beside her. "Plus you were never really _my_ alpha to start with."

"I wouldn't change what I did for you for the world, believe me, it wouldn't be worth living as an alpha if I didn't have you, but it's not easy."

"I know that."

"And I don't appreciate you using your alpha spark to make me submit."

"Well _I_ like it when you submit to me." She argued and glared at him. "I think after all the shit you pulled that I deserve-"

"You're going to be late." He cut her off, his words harsh and firm.

Sydney let out a frustrated growl but rolled off the side of the bed. Making her way to her feet, she shot a glance back at him and sighed. It had to be hard for him, after a long time of being in control and being an alpha, all of a sudden he was just a beta. She turned her back to him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't like us fighting." She said softly, her voice barely louder than a whisper. After she had recovered from her fatal injury, she figured that they had talked most of their conflicts out.

It had to be hard though. Peter had always been in control, as long as she had known him, he was the one calling the shots. When she went off without him, she knew how much it bothered him, especially when she went off after Stiles. Their relationship had been a secret in the beginning and maybe it still was to some people but she wasn't ashamed of it, she wasn't ashamed of him, even if he had gone on a murderous rampage and killed nearly a dozen people.

Her intention when she showed up at his doorstep hadn't been to fall in love, she hadn't even planned on staying with him for much longer than a week but now she found herself scared at the thought of living without him. As much as she wanted to place the blame for that on their mated bond, she knew that there was no way she'd be able to live a happy life without him in it.

"It's what we do Sydney."

"That doesn't meant I have to like it."

Peter bit back his words and slowly made his way to his feet. He walked around the bed and moved to stand behind her, his hands dropping down and coming to rest against her hips. She took in a deep breath and cautiously leaned back, her back meeting his chest before she set her head on his shoulder.

"No matter how often we argue, you're always going to be mine." Peter purred and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"But why do we have to fight in the first place?" Her tone was nearing a whine.

"Well when you have two powerful people, there are bound to be disagreements."

Sydney let out a sigh and twisted her body in his hold. His fingers bit into her hips and she felt almost calm at his possessive hold.

"You think I'm powerful?" She asked shyly, hoping that he wouldn't turn it around on her and make her feel like an idiot for asking.

"I'd be out of my mind _not_ to think that."

"To be fair though, you are a little bit 'out of your mind'." She shot back but found that her lips were pulling upwards and she could no longer contain the smile threatening to form on her face. "But I guess I shouldn't complain, I was possessed for like half of our relationship."

He snaked his hands forward and banded his arms around her waist. Sydney relaxed in his hold and even hummed in anticipation as he kissed the side of her neck. Before she even had time to object, he peeled himself away from her and took hold of her hand, tugging on her arm gently.

"Come on now Sydney, let's have a shower and then you can be on your way. Mexico is waiting don't you know?"

"Well actually Stiles is waiting-"

"The sooner you leave, the sooner you'll get back." He smirked and led her out of the bedroom.

The only words that came to mind in Sydney's head were 'what happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico'; all she had to do now was survive the trip.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Malia: young, pretty, supernatural Malia.

Sydney wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, especially when she had been told that the girl was a werecoyote way back when she had called Stiles upon arriving home from her torturous trip, but the tough looking, somewhat pretty girl standing next to Stiles wasn't it.

The girl didn't look like she had been stuck in animal form for eight years; actually, Sydney didn't see any traces of animal on her, which is pretty much exactly what she had been expecting. No weird patches of fur, no paws instead of hands and feet, her nose was a normal human looking nose and she didn't have any whiskers. Maybe she was figuring that it'd be obvious to tell that the girl had been a full coyote at one point but now, as she subtly studied the girl, standing there in a purple top and tight American flag jean shorts, Sydney found herself feeling a little irritated.

It wasn't necessary that Stiles inform her that Malia was tagging along, hell Sydney figured that Stiles wasn't even _aware_ that Lydia had informed Peter that that was his kid's name. It didn't make her feel any better about the situation. If anything it made Sydney feel slightly intimidated.

Peter hadn't expressed what he was going to do concerning his newfound knowledge of having a child but Sydney knew that it wasn't going to be easy on her, no matter what he had come up with. Jealous, was that what she was, jealous of this young woman standing next to Stiles? Malia clearly held the human's attention; it wouldn't be too much longer until she held Peter's as well, then where would that leave her?

Sure she could use her alpha pull on him and make sure that he stayed interested in her but did she really want to have to resort to that?

Pulling herself together, she figured it would be better to just pretend like she didn't really know who, or what, the girl was. Sydney remained silent and simply listened as Scott explained the plan.

It wasn't a very hard plan to understand, go to Mexico, search out some group of hunters that lived there, offer then money in exchange for Derek and get the former alpha back. Seemed easy enough and with a trip to Mexico as even more incentive besides just saving her best friend, Sydney was all in.

"I don't like this plan." Lydia voiced her objections. "We're going to get ourselves killed."

"Okay then, let's see what you can come up with." Sydney countered, a smug smirk taking up residence on her face. Lydia shot the older woman a glare but remained silent. So it was obvious then, no one had any real clue how to handle the entire situation. The plan seemed easy enough to execute but they had to know they were working against seasoned hunters, who would have no doubt planned for pretty much anything.

Then there was the whole territory thing too. There was no way a pack of supernatural creatures, plus one human, would be able to get to the person at the top of the food chain without detection, these hunters had to know they were coming for them and at the very least, they'd know as soon as Scott and his gang stepped foot into their town.

"This plan _will_ work." Stiles hissed at them all, glancing around at all the unbelieving faces. Sydney let out a huff at his words but didn't say anything.

"We're going to die." Lydia stated defiantly and planted her hands on her hips.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Sydney scoffed and glanced at Malia, and she swore she saw her nodding along, agreeing with Sydney's own statement. "I don't know what banshees can do but I'm a pretty decent werewolf, I can handle myself. Whatever happens to you is not my problem."

"Syd, hey Syd, can't you be nice for like five minutes?" Stiles set his sights on her and widened his eyes as if to coax her into agreeing. Sydney looked away from Malia and narrowed her eyes on Stiles as if to remind him who was the one in control.

Normally she wouldn't have had any qualms regarding Lydia but there was something putting her on edge, something in the form of a curvaceous brunette standing next to Stiles who Sydney had never met before. Yes, Malia, everything seemed to come back to Malia. If it came down to it, would she be able to save the girl, knowing that it was likely she was the illegitimate child of her current lover?

"We're a team for this, okay?" Scott tossed out and looked at Sydney. She gave him a half-hearted shrug in response but nodded her understanding. "No one gets left behind, especially not in Mexico."

Sydney wasn't entirely sure what she had witnessed but when she looked over at Malia, she swore the girl had shaken her head. Maybe she was just as hesitant as Sydney to give into Scott's 'we're a team' statement. Sydney was all for working together, calling a truce, if only temporarily, but putting her life in danger to save any one of the kids standing in front of her? Maybe Stiles but she'd certainly have no regrets about leaving Malia behind. There was something about the girl that she didn't trust, which made sense because she wasn't entirely sure she trusted Peter either. Like father, like daughter, wasn't that how the saying went?

"Okay, no one gets left in Mexico." Sydney grumbled. Stiles flashed her a sympathetic look, no doubt he understood how hard it must be for her to have to work with teenagers, especially teenagers that he didn't believe trusted her. It was easy to see that Stiles was the only one who really, truly wanted her there. Scott had sensed that Sydney would be useful if it came down to a fight and she was pretty strong, at least that worked to her advantage. Shame that Scott didn't realize how undeniably strong she really was.

"Or at the border." Stiles baited.

"Okay Jesus, or the border." Sydney tossed her hands into the air in defeat. "Everyone is making it back to California together, is that good enough for you?"

"Works for me." Scott broke in.

"Me too." Kira nodded along.

Stiles glanced at the two females nearest him. Malia gave off a shrug and Lydia merely kept her gaze on Sydney. Without further ado, Stiles stepped forward, reached into the inside pocket on his jacket and extended his hand to Sydney. She reached out and took hold of the stack of bills that he was offering to her, her head tilting to the side in question.

"In case something happens." Stiles offered.

"Stiles are you sure?" Malia's voice was not what she had been expecting. It was weird to think that Sydney was feeling slightly jealous over not holding Stiles' attention like she once had but with the werecoyote firmly by his side, that's exactly what she felt. Stiles seemed to like Malia and if her keen werewolf senses were still good, which she was fairly certain they were, then Malia seemed to like Stiles right back.

They should have made a cute couple, had Sydney actually liked the girl but there was something in her head screaming at her. Stiles deserved someone better, someone not potentially related to Peter Hale.

"Like an insurance policy?" Sydney questioned, ignoring Malia's comment. She pulled the stack of money out of Stiles' hand and tucked it into her own jacket pocket.

"If we can't get to the hunters who have Derek and something happens…"

"Nothing's going to happen." Scott interjected confidently but she could sense the uneasiness to his tone. Sydney forced a smile onto her face and glanced around at each and every one of the teenagers. It didn't look like much but she knew that Scott was fairly confident in his pack.

"So, who's riding with me then?" Sydney questioned and shoved her hands into the front pockets on her leather jacket. She felt her fingers seek out her car keys and quickly grabbed hold of them, clutching them tightly inside her pocket. She was a little nervous, as any sane person would be, but this trip to Mexico needed to happen. She needed to get Derek back and she needed to back up Scott and his pack, or more appropriately dubbed 'the band of misfits'.

"I'll go. Sydney can tell me all about the Kanima thing." Kira's bubbly voice filled the air and Sydney found herself slightly surprised at how easily the girl volunteered. Well, the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Kira the kitsune hadn't been around as long as Stiles, Scott and Lydia, plus the last time Kira had encountered Sydney, she had been particularly helpful. Oh there were still many things for the kitsune to learn.

"I guess that means that I'll go too." Scott added hesitantly and locked his eyes on Stiles', almost daring him to say something. Stiles had seemed to trust the female though and as far as Sydney was concerned, he hadn't informed anyone about her alpha status, something that she wasn't ready to reveal just yet. Why give up the element of surprise, it might come in handy in the future, right?

"You're going to go with her? The werewolf who heard voices, who might still hear voices?" Lydia piped up. "Not that I don't trust her-"

"I trust her." Stiles cut her off and locked his eyes onto Sydney's. "You're not hearing voices now, are you?"

Sydney shook her head no and pulled her car keys out of her jacket pocket. She poised them in her hand and unlocked her car, watching as Kira scurried into the backseat, Scott wandering towards the vehicle and standing just outside the passenger's side.

"She heard voices?" Malia's voice seemed to grate on every nerve in her body but Sydney gritted her teeth and tried to just ignore her.

"She was possessed." Stiles added nonchalantly and Malia's eyes widened at the admission. "I'll explain it all to you on the drive down."

Sydney felt her muscles tense at Stiles' offer to tell her all about her possession to her on the way down. Suddenly she felt herself feeling nervous about not being in the same car as Stiles. Could she trust that he'd keep her alpha status a secret, would he tell Malia all about Peter Hale and would Lydia then inform the girl that Sydney's mate was potentially her father?

There were so many questions that Sydney had and there was no way to know what Stiles was going to say. Scott waved at his best friend and ripped Sydney's mind away from the potential disaster that awaited her once they arrived in Mexico.

"I'll see you in Mexico!" Stiles shouted back and tossed out a wave of his own.

"Yeah, Mexico." Sydney grumbled and made her way around to the driver's door. With one last look at Stiles' jeep, she climbed into her own vehicle, turned it on and took off after him, dirt kicking up from her tires behind her and filling the air with dust.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Well, I'd love to know what you guys all thought? How about some reviews?_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 2****:**

Sydney wasn't entirely sure how she felt about actually being in Mexico. The drive down from Beacon Hills had been decent to say the least. She had a nice conversation with Kira and Scott about her experience with the Nogitsune, Kira asking more questions than Scott, which led to Sydney also telling the young kitsune about her struggles with Derek and being a part of his pack when the whole Kanima thing went down.

She hadn't openly told them about her relationship with Peter, although if she was completely honest with herself, she figured Scott knew more than he was letting on, after all, his best friend Stiles would have had to have told him something, anything about the pair. She didn't figure Stiles would have blabbed about her being an alpha but if Scott knew that too, she wouldn't have been overly surprised.

Giving Scott more credit than she had when she first met him wasn't easy. She hadn't exactly liked the true alpha. Chalk it up to jealousy or just plain irritation, Scott McCall hadn't always sat well with Sydney Vance. He was growing on her though, Scott was brave, noble, he'd do anything for his friends, which included her potential emissary in the form of Stiles, who Sydney was glad to have back to his old, sarcastic self.

Scared and nervous hadn't even begun to cover how she had been feeling when the nogitsune had taken over his body. Stiles didn't deserve that, he didn't deserve to be possessed and end up in an insane asylum. He didn't deserve to be forced to murder innocent people or to come extremely close to dying. Sydney had been glad that he made it through, scarred and a little broken, but alive and that was all that mattered.

Sydney forced the memories of her own possession to the back of her mind as she wandered around the outside of the group of dancing people inside the club. The loud music was hurting her ears a little bit but she knew she had to remain focused. She glanced around the room and locked her eyes on Scott, who was standing in the shadows, a stance to his body that suggested he was stalking his prey. She caught his eyes and watched as they flickered the true alpha red. She fought back the desire to flicker her own red alpha eyes back at him and instead forced her glowing blue orbs to the surface. He gave her an encouraging nod and Sydney strode into the centre of the crowd, calmly, coolly, as though she belonged there.

She didn't owe Kira anything and she certainly didn't feel like Malia deserved her help but she knew that both girls were important to Stiles and Scott, and she figured she had to put up with them in order to be in their good books. Peter had always stated that Stiles was valuable and Sydney wouldn't argue that, Stiles meant more to her than anyone other than Peter or Derek. He needed to be protected, he had a bright future and in her eyes, he was innocent, merely trying to muddle his way through the whole supernatural world.

Sydney approached the werecoyote and forced a smile at her. She spun around to the beat and seized her opportunity, watching as Kira stalked towards them, a nervous look on her face. Sydney caught sight of the large, Latino men closing in on the crowd, radios lifted to the mouths where she tried desperately to hear what they were saying. The music was too loud, too distracting and when Sydney spun back around, she locked her eyes on Kira, who was now standing directly in front of Malia.

"Something's happening." Kira forced the words out; her body rigid with what Sydney could only guess was fear. The female alpha dropped her shoulders back and crept closer to the two girls, taking a stance behind Malia.

"I know." Malia responded coolly, continuing to dance as though she had nothing to worry about.

"What do we do?" Kira's look of fear turned into absolute terror and Sydney stepped around Malia, moving to stand between the two of them now. She let her own hips sway to the beat and slowly let the music flood her senses. It had been a long time she had been to a party, the rave at Derek's loft had been the last time and Sydney had blacked out once the Oni had gotten their hands on her.

"Blend in!" Malia countered with a smile and Kira just stared at her. Sydney took hold of the kitsune's hand and tried to get her to move with her. "Dance with me dumbass!"

Kira's body started convulsing awkwardly and Sydney stared at her, wondering what the hell was going on now. Did the club have some sort of werewolf defenses?

When Sydney glanced to Malia to see if she had any idea what to do, the young woman brought her hand up to her mouth and looked at Kira with a confused look on her face. Wait, was Kira trying to dance? Was she dancing?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sydney shouted and spun around her, sandwiching Kira between her body and Malia's.

Malia slipped an arm around Kira and placed her hand on her lower back, tugging her forward. Sydney glanced around the club but felt her body relaxing. There were three of them, three strong, independent women and if something was going to go down, there was no doubt in her mind that she could handle herself; she just prayed that they weren't going to be completely ambushed.

Kira was starting to get the hang of it and as Sydney's hips swayed, Kira's matched her actions, the three girls now dancing against each other. Hands grasping at other hands, fingers running through hair, Sydney even started to smile as people from the dance floor slowly migrated towards them, everyone in the club crowding and dancing around them now.

She had kept her eyes open though and she watched as Scott slipped away from the crowd and further into the shadows. Sydney couldn't help but feel a little bit excited at what was about to go down. Yes they were going to get Derek back and she was going to kick some ass in the process.

Her hands locked on Kira's hips and she gave a gentle squeeze, alerting the girls in front of her of the approaching threat. Kira leaned her head back onto Sydney's shoulders and stole a glance at the rough looking woman heading towards them. Sydney looked forward and noticed baldy in the leather jacket closing in on them. They were trying to surround the girls

Malia leaned in, her mouth right next to Kira's ear and Sydney leaned in too. She was buzzing with excitement now; she was going to kick some butt! It had been a long time since she had taken on anyone: Sydney wasn't counting the time she had gone after Peter inside the McCall residence. Here, now, she had an opportunity to prove herself and she was charged and ready to go.

"Ready?" Malia purred and Sydney couldn't help the smirk growing on her lips. She glanced downwards and spotted the nun chucks slipping into Kira's hands.

"I want baldy." Sydney chuckled and Kira dropped her one handle out of her hand, spinning on her heels as Sydney jumped out of her way.

Malia spun around too and stopped the hit coming at her from the man who had been stalking them. Sydney surged forward and wrapped her arms around the bald guy, taking him down to the floor with a powerful tackle. She glanced back at the two younger girls, Kira being amazing with her nun chucks and Malia packing a much more powerful punch than she had anticipated. They were certainly holding their own.

Sydney dropped down to her knees and straddled the fallen henchman. She lifted her hand into the air, curled her fingers into a fist and grinned, flashing the man below her a quick look of her alpha reds.

"Who are you?" The man choked out and winced as she tilted her head.

"I'm the reaper." Sydney shot back and brought her fist down, her knuckles connecting with his nose and the undeniably loud crack of a broken nose momentarily filled her ears. Seconds later the music was all she heard as she made her way back up to her feet.

She rolled her shoulders back and forced her wolf to calm down. There was no need to go totally ballistic, even if she was still itching for a fight.

Scott approached them and gave Kira a nod, the signal, and the three girls took off after him, Sydney hanging back for a split second to admire her handy work, a pool of blood from the fallen man's nose now glistened on the floor.

She surged ahead and fell in behind the rest of them. She was the cover for the back of them; she was ready to take on the threats that came up behind them.

"That was awesome." Sydney remarked with a grin, Scott glanced back at her. She figured he was trying to show her that he wasn't impressed with the idea of hurting people but he simply smiled at her, very much appreciating the fact that he had an experience werewolf to back him up. "Girl power, fuck, we were like a way more badass version of Charlie's Angels."

"Charlie's Angels?" Malia questioned and looked at Sydney as though she were stupid.

"Yeah, three girls kicking ass- you know what, never mind." Sydney tried to explain but Malia's look never faltered so she gave up and focused on the task at hand instead. "Let's just…do this thing!"

Scott led the three of them through a series of hallways. She took a big whiff of the air and knew exactly what Scott was doing; he was tracking Stiles and Lydia by scent. The smell of Stiles was very unique and Sydney didn't usually have a hard time pinpointing it in a crowd, tonight was no different.

"Yeah, let's do this." Kira agreed and hesitated, falling in step next to Sydney now.

Scott slowed down as he rounded the corner and stepped into an eerie hallway, red material accenting the walls. Sydney shuddered and immediately locked her eyes on the floor where white smoke was now pouring out of. She stopped walking, tucked Kira behind her and lowered her body as she got into a crouch, ready to attack.

Scott wandered into the hallway further and put his hand back, stopping Malia in her tracks. The smoke started filling up the hallways faster and Scott slowly approached the mysterious gas. Sydney took a deep inhale and her eyes widened in panic. It wasn't even a second later that the same smoke that was in front of them started oozing out from the ceiling above them. Scott's panicked voice quickly filled the room as he too realized what was going on now.

"Wolfsbane. It's wolfsbane!" He yelled and turned around, urging the girls to head back in the direction that they had just come from. "Kira... Kira, get out of here!"

Sydney tried to lead the two girls back down the hallway, her jacket now pulled up over her mouth but it was useless. She could already feel the wolfsbane burning her throat and lungs and before she could say any words of warning, she started to choke. Coughing and spluttering in an attempt to clear her airways, she surged forward but her body was weakening, her limbs becoming heavier with each passing second.

Sydney dropped to her knees next to Kira and tried, with all her remaining strength, to crawl out of the hallway. Her vision was blurring and she blinked rapidly to try to clear her eyes.

"Kira, look out, look out!"

Struggling to her feet, Sydney managed to stumble in front of Kira just in time to come face to face with another Latino henchman, who was carrying a large rifle. Kira and the man locked up but the girl dropped to the floor, too weak to fight. Sydney turned around and tried to get to Scott, if she could get to Scott, maybe the two of them could grab his friends and get the hell out.

At the sight of the old woman who she had become vaguely familiar with, Sydney froze, her legs turning to absolute goo as she collapsed, her eyes trained on the woman who had strung Peter and Derek up to the electric fence while she had been strapped to the table.

This wasn't possible; Sydney had assumed that the crazy old woman who had hacked off Peter's finger had been taken out when Braeden had come to rescue Derek. Apparently she had assumed wrong.

"Someone who has been an Alpha only a few months should be more careful when facing a hunter of fourty years." The old woman sounded exactly the same, except by this point Sydney's ears felt like they were filling up with water, the muffled sounds surrounding her were fading away to nothing, just like her eyesight.

"All we want is Derek." Scott managed to get the words out but they sounded pained and strained.

"Give us Derek!" Sydney barked and was immediately choking once again.

"_My Lobito,_ you're a long way from home." The woman didn't seem any less menacing and Sydney was well aware of what she could do. She had sliced off Peter's finger without hesitation; there was no doubt in Sydney's mind that she was willing to do _whatever _she had to.

Scott stared up at the woman and Sydney dragged her body closer to him, desperate to hear his words, to feed off his remaining strength. He wasn't going to let anything happen to his two pack members and Sydney figured that he wouldn't let her die either. Scott McCall was going to make an amazing alpha one day; he just needed to get there.

"You don't know where he is either."

Sydney winced as the woman lunged forward and prodded Scott with the electric wand in her hand. Scott's entire body went rigid as the electricity surged through his body. Sydney clung to consciousness long enough to watch Scott fall to the floor but not before he let out a roar of pain.

Once Scott fell, it wasn't too much longer until her own world faded to nothing around her.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney slowly opened her eyes and tried desperately to roll onto her side. She felt the heaviness in her limbs dissipating but that didn't sate the worry that she had. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know what had happened to her between the wolfsbane smoke and now and she wasn't entirely sure what the hell had happened to the rest of them.

"Whoa Syd, take it easy okay?"

Sydney groaned at the sound of Stiles' voice but curled her body tighter. A hand pressed against her shoulder and she slowly turned her head upwards, forcing her eyes open now. Stiles flinched as she did so but his hand never left her shoulder. She grunted and stretched her legs out, Stiles pushing on her shoulder so that she was now lying on her back.

"What the hell happened?" She rasped and felt the muscles in her body aching.

"I'm not entirely sure but uh, but we have a bigger problem." Stiles replied and slipped an arm around the back of her shoulders, gingerly hauling her up into a sitting position. She cradled her arms against her stomach and blinked rapidly a few times in an attempt to clear up her vision. Stiles rose to his feet and hoisted Sydney up with him, slipping his body against hers as he supported her, the two of them moving towards Scott's limp and unconscious form.

Sydney hissed at the pain in her stomach but looked down, studying Scott's almost peaceful expression. She clung to Stiles tighter and let out a long breath.

"If your problem is that Scott's taking a nap, that's easy, watch." Sydney cautiously lowered herself to floor beside Scott and peeled herself away from Stiles. She scooted closer to the alpha, took his hand in hers and squeezed.

Stiles' eyes watched carefully, Kira moving to stand next to him, as Sydney drew out some of Scott's pain. She could feel it in her own body but she knew that if they stood a chance at getting out of Mexico, and wherever they were at that second, she knew she had to put her fate in Scott's hand. Everyone else in the room trusted him and she was aware at the mistrust they all had for her.

When she couldn't physically handle anymore of Scott's pain, she slowly uncurled her fingers from around his and finally stole a glance around the room. They seemed to be in an old, abandoned, wrecked room that looked almost like a bathroom. She let out a low growl and clambered to her feet, Stiles stepping up to catch her before she had a chance to fall back to the floor.

"Will he be okay?" Stiles asked and Kira bounded up to them, her eyes wide with concern.

"Give him time; his body has to fight the poison." She nodded back and watched as Kira seemed to relax the tiniest little bit. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me what the hell happened? Where's Derek? Did we get Derek?"

"No, no we didn't get Derek." Stiles shook his head and walked Sydney towards one of the sinks in the room. She let go of him and pressed her palms against the edge of the sink.

"Do we know where he is?" She pressed, deeply concerned about her best friend's well-being. When she glanced into the mirror, she winced at her expression. She looked defeated and it hit her at that second. No wonder Peter didn't like the idea of her running off on adventures with Stiles and the gang. She almost always ended up hurt, wounded, weakened and he didn't like it. This time was different though, this time it was for Derek. Peter had to understand that.

"No, we don't. I don't think they know where he is."

"Okay." Sydney nodded and let out a breath. She dropped her gaze away from the mirror and glanced back at Scott, watching carefully as his body twitched.

"He's awake. Guys, he's awake." Kira announced as she loomed over him. Stiles and Malia rushed towards him, relieved that he was awake yet afraid of what damage might have been done.

"Scott, you okay?" Stiles asked and Sydney pushed herself away from the sink. She stumbled towards the fallen alpha and took her place next to Stiles.

"Yeah." Kira dropped to her knees and Stiles squatted down, helping Scott into a sitting position. "They don't have him. They don't have Derek."

Sydney held her breath and hoped that he could tell them something good. This trip to Mexico had turned into a trip to hell and Sydney would have been perfectly content to not visit hell.

"We know but right now, they've got Lydia." Kira countered and Sydney clenched her jaw. Things had just gotten slightly more complicated. There was no way they were going to get out of this weird place without Lydia.

"Lydia? What do they want with Lydia?" Scott questioned, looking to Stiles a though he held the answers. Sydney let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

"She's a banshee, they're hunters, let's do the math here Scott." Sydney stated and fought off the urge to roll her eyes. Okay so maybe he was still foggy from the wolfsbane smoke but it wasn't hard to figure it out. Lydia was a supernatural creature, hunters hunted supernatural creatures. Simple logic.

Scott leapt up to his feet and rushed towards the door on the wall, the heavy, metal door that Sydney hadn't taken the time to check out yet. He slammed his body against it and ran his fingers along the front of it before grabbing hold of the side and pulling. Kira moved to step up to Scott, who was now running his fingers along the wall nearest the door handle.

Sydney remained standing in the middle of the room next to Stiles, watching as Scott tried to figure out how to get out of the room.

"We already looked for a way out. I think a lot of people have." Kira broke in and Scott shot a glance her way.

"I say when that door opens again; we take out whoever's standing in the way and run for it." Malia suggested, an air of confidence in her tone.

"What about Lydia?" Kira countered and Malia furrowed her eyebrows at the question.

"What about her?" Malia shot back.

"We're not leaving without her." Scott said as he marched back towards the rest of his pack. Sydney took a step towards him.

"Why not?" Malia asked and Sydney turned her attention to the juvenile werecoyote.

"Because we don't leave without people." Stiles seemed calm as he approached the girl. "Remember, we talked about this? Rules of the wild kingdom don't apply to friends."

"No one gets left behind in Mexico, or at the border." Sydney ground out, echoing their words from before they hit the road for Mexico. She was finding it hard to disagree with Malia though, if they were going to make it back to Beacon Hills, sacrifices might need to be made, Lydia for the rest of them, well that seemed fair enough in Sydney's eyes.

"Is that what you would do as a coyote, leave her for dead?" Kira's tone came out way more accusatory than she figured but Sydney snorted at her question. This girl, Malia, the crazy werecoyote had spent eight years stuck as an animal. Sydney figured she wouldn't have been very socialized but this was just too entertaining.

"If she was weak and injured, yeah. If hunting had been bad that season, I would eat her. Then I'd leave."

" Believe it or not, that's progress." Stiles offered and Sydney rolled her eyes. Leave it to Stiles to always see the positive side to things, especially after he had been possessed and led a slaughter at the hospital not too long ago.

"Shades of gray." Sydney muttered and Stiles shot a glare her way. "I'm just saying, she has a point, you say the rules of the wild kingdom don't apply to friends but you have to look at the bigger picture."

"The bigger picture?" She had Scott's attention now and even Stiles seemed to lessen his glare on her.

"They want Lydia for a reason, once she's no good to them anymore; they're most likely going to kill her and then what happens?" Sydney tried to explain, baiting them to catch on to point she was trying to make.

"I'll bite, then what happens?" Malia asked right back.

"They come for us. These people are hunters, it's what they do. We've infringed on their territory. They don't take things like that lightly."

"All right, guys, we're not dead yet." Scott interjected. "And that means Araya wants something."

Araya, Araya? That name sounded vaguely familiar now. So maybe it _was_ the little old lady who had tortured her and the Hales, she could conclude that based on the run in with the bitch in the hall but where had she heard that name before?

"But if the Calaveras don't know where Derek is, that means they didn't take him from the loft. Right?" Kira pointed out. Ah ha! That's where she had heard that name. Araya, yes, Derek had spoken about her to Chris Argent after they had saved the twins, but did that mean that Chris Argent was in on it, did he know what Araya's plan was? Had she just discovered a new enemy in the form of Chris Argent?

"Maybe he left on his own." Stiles pointed out and Sydney let out a growl. No, Derek wouldn't have just left on his own.

"He would have said something to _me_." Sydney ground out. "He wouldn't have just left."

"Maybe someone else got to him." Scott said and Sydney felt her blood run cold. If Araya and the Calaveras hadn't gotten to Derek and he certainly didn't leave on his own, then where was he and more importantly, who had him now?

Sydney's ears perked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. She barely had enough time to get into an attack stance before the large, metal door whipped open and three hunters bombarded them. The electric wand was out in front of the leader and Sydney tensed at the crackling of electricity. She anticipated a zap of her own but she was reduced to watching as they took down Scott, the two hunters behind the leader pointed guns at her and the rest of the pack, keeping them at bay, before dragging Scott out of the room.

One of the hunters with guns covered the other as they gathered up Kira, forcing her by gunpoint out into the hallway. Sydney took off for the door, leaping at it and hitting it just as it slammed shut, her shoulder cracking under the force. She crumpled to the floor and turned so that her back was pressed against the cool metal, Stiles rushing forward to help haul her back to her feet.

"Bad idea." She grumbled and wrapped her hand around her sore shoulder, fiddling around with it before she jerked it backwards, popping the bone back into the socket. Stiles gagged at the sound and Sydney let out a pitiful chuckle in response. The life of a werewolf certainly was unusual, after all, what humans did she know of that could fix their own injuries and heal on their own? Well there weren't too many, that much she knew for sure.

The room fell silent, Sydney rolling her sore shoulder back to regain full mobility, Malia let out a huff and dropped to the floor, leaning against the sink attached to the wall. Stiles began pacing the room, no one saying a word.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed or how long they had been in the room to start with but she shook her head and tried to focus on the sounds that she could hear from the rest of the building. She picked up on a pipe dripping maybe fifty feet away, she could hear electricity flowing, crackling as it traveled to its destination, and she could hear the older hunter's faint voice. Araya, that was her name, Sydney could hear her, just barely, as she spoke, her tone threatening and directed towards…was that Scott, did she have Scott? Was he the destination for the electricity to wind up at? Were they slowly frying up Scott McCall?

"Do you hear them? Can you hear Scott?" Stiles questioned and Sydney turned her attention to the human teenager. She made a move to open her mouth but found that Stiles was focused solely on Malia, and the werecoyote shook her head no in response to his question. "Can you hear Kira, Lydia, anybody? What are they saying?"

"I... I can't. I can't concentrate. I...there's too many sounds and voices."

"Like dripping and electricity." Sydney muttered and found herself feeling slightly irritated at Malia's will to just give up without hardly even trying. She knew it had to be hard but their lives were on the line.

Stiles crouched down in front of the girl and spoke to her in a calming tone.

"Okay. It's okay. Well…just breathe. Breathe with me, all right? You practiced this with Scott before, remember?"

"I'm trying." Malia countered.

"Try harder." Sydney growled and threw her hands into the air. She turned her back to them and stared at the door, willing it to open with just her mind. She shut her eyes and listened, the pained grunts and moans from Scott flooded her eardrums and she fought off a shiver that was threatening to run through her body.

"It's okay, it's okay. Just focus on something. Here, look at my eyes, very good, just focus on the sound of my voice." Stiles was trying to help the poor girl but Sydney just found it annoying, a hindrance to her own hearing. She turned and watched the two, a glare on her face as she tried to convey that she wasn't pleased with them, Stiles wasn't paying any attention though and Malia was staring at Stiles, clearly blocking out her own surroundings. "All you have to do is try to concentrate, concentrate-"

Sydney's eyes widened in disgust as Malia leaned forward quickly and cut Stiles' words off with a kiss. She made a gagging noise and rolled her head at them. Fucking Malia. There were a few choice lessons Sydney found herself wanting to teach her at that moment: hands, and lips, off Stiles was lesson number one, especially when they were clearly in a dire situation.

"Fuck's sake, now is _not_ the time." Sydney growled and stomped towards them, fully prepared to peel Malia off of Stiles and throw her across the room.

Malia pulled away before Sydney was close enough to start doing damage and when Sydney caught the look in the girl's eyes, she spotted the glowing blue colour, the same glowing blue eyes that she, herself, had fallen for in the form of Peter Hale.

She swore her heart stopped and with the sudden yet temporary inability to breathe quickly passing, she sucked in a breath and held it. When the lights started to flicker, Sydney felt the air rushing into and then out of her lungs easily, as though she had never been caught off guard by the glowing blue eyes. If the lights were flickering, that had to mean that the hunters were using an overabundance of electricity and on Scott no less, at least she knew what the hunters were doing to Scott. They clearly wanted to do some damage before killing him, maybe they had questions. Sydney had faith that Scott wasn't going to give anything up but that didn't mean she was any more pleased with the situation.

"They're killing him." Malia nodded and Sydney shook her head. It didn't take werewolf hearing to determine that fact and, once again, Malia had managed to grind on Sydney's nerves simply by opening her mouth.

Sydney tried to block out the flickering of the lights and the two teenagers in the room with her. She shut her eyes and focused on the sound of the woman's voice, the sound of Scott's pained voice. She tilted her head back and took in their conversation, listening as the woman challenged Scott to think, and then proceeded to electrify the shit out of him, his cries of pains easily heard by Sydney, and Malia too. They were getting harder and harder to miss.

"_Kate."_

"Kate?" Sydney spoke the name out loud, repeating it from what she had heard. Malia, from behind her, had said the same name and Sydney's throat rumbled with a feral growl.

"That's impossible, it's impossible. That can't be what he said." Stiles shot back and leaned back away from Malia the slightest bit.

"Why? Who...who's Kate?" Malia asked and Sydney found herself annoyed at the werecoyote's ignorance. This girl didn't know a damn thing, she was utterly clueless.

"She's a hunter, an Argent." Stiles answered and Sydney screamed, an anger filled, ear drum busting, spine shivering scream.

"I'll rip her apart!" Sydney shrieked and ran at the metal door. "Limb by limb!"

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Thank you for all of you who have favourited this story and added it to their alert lists! _**

**_Special thanks to WickedlyMinx, Luna888, poorxbrokexcollegexkid and PassionForWritingAlex._**

**_Lireal: thank you so much for your review and your follow on tumblr! I'm glad that you enjoy Peter and Sydney's relationship and I hope you continued to read and enjoy their story!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Sydney plays a pretty significant part in Liam's werewolf lifestyle! _**

**_I'm so glad that you all liked chapter 1. What did you guys think of chapter 2? I'd love to hear what your favourite part was, if you had one. How do you guys feel about Sydney and her hatred of Kate? What do you think of the Malia/Sydney 'feud' going on? _**


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary:_ _Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 3****:**

She wasn't sure what the hell Scott had offered the Calaveras, or the entirety of what he had said to them at all but Sydney wasn't going to argue, his method had proven to be rather effective. He had somehow managed to get himself freed and with his freedom came hers, and Stiles, Malia, Kira and Lydia's too. Maybe she needed to give Scott even more credit as an alpha than she was starting to. He may have led them into the whole mess but he had managed to get them out too, he wasn't a completely terrible leader.

She wandered along behind Lydia, the strawberry blonde leading her, the two girls and Stiles towards the lanky teenager's jeep, Sydney's car parked right behind it. The four of them leaned against the side of the jeep and Sydney rushed towards her own vehicle, never happier to see the car in her life.

Yes, she was free, Stiles was out of harm's way, at least for the time being, and Malia hadn't kissed him again since she scolded them like a pair of caught teenagers, which is exactly what they were. Now all she had to do was convince them that they needed to get the hell out of Mexico.

Sydney leaned against her car and watched as Araya, the creepy old lady hunter, led Scott out towards the outside of the building. They were conversing, Scott asking about Kate, the hunter giving her just enough to hold his interest but not enough to give away her ace in the hole. Sydney planted her hands on her hips as Scott closed the distance between himself and Stiles, Araya had thoroughly threatened him and Sydney tried to hide a smile at the thought of her going after the young, naïve alpha. Scott McCall may be growing and maturing but he still had _a lot_ to learn, not pissing off crazy hunters should have been put at the top of his list.

"So what now?" Stiles questioned, stepping towards Scott, meeting him halfway. Scott came to a stop right in front of him and gave him a shrug.

"She thinks she knows where we can find Derek." Scott answered and Sydney let out a snort.

"And you believe her?" Sydney accused, rolling her eyes. Their entire trip to Mexico had been a giant clusterfuck and now Scott was just going to trust this mean old hunter. Maybe she could convince them to leave if she just told them what the old bitch had done to Sydney, Derek and Peter in the basement of that house not so long ago, maybe Scott needed a reality check. Not everyone deserved to be trusted.

"What other choice do we have?" Scott countered and Sydney pushed herself off her car. She moved to stand beside Stiles, studying Scott as he stood in front of her.

"I just think it's kind of like asking for death to come and find us if we're basing the next leg of our Mexico itinerary on the words of a hunter who would easily have no problem sending us into an ambush."

Stiles tensed at her words and Sydney could easily tell that he was now a little more nervous about this plan than he had been ten seconds ago. Sydney dropped her hands away from her hips and sighed. She was hot, she was tired, she was hungry, all she wanted to do was get in the car and go home, but the thought of Derek being held by Kate made her blood boil. She could pull herself together long enough to try to get him back, couldn't she?

"Are we going to trust her? Even if she knows where Derek is, don't you think Syd here has a point?" Stiles added and Scott gave them another shrug.

"If she says she knows where Derek is, we have to take that chance."

"She going to tell us where?" Malia piped up from against the jeep. Sydney glanced back at the three girls standing side by side, shoulders pressed together. They were willing to stand by Scott, they had come this far and they weren't going to give up, not yet anyways. As hot and tired as Sydney was, she knew that this was quite possibly their only chance to get Derek back.

"Uh, actually, she's giving us a guide." Scott stated and Sydney's attention was drawn to the loud revving of a motorcycle engine. Sydney stepped away from the approaching bike and shook her head in disbelief.

Great, Araya was giving them a guide so that they could be led to their deaths. What was it about Scott and his pack and why did they have such an aversion to looking on the logical side of things? Nothing was stopping anyone from taking them out, Araya could easily be leading them to their very own slaughter but apparently none of that even fazed Scott.

The motorcycle came to a stop a few feet behind Sydney and a few feet in front of the other three girls. She cocked her head to the side, watching as the rider's feet hit the ground and their hands moved up to peel the hard, black helmet off their head. Sydney pressed her lips together and leveled a glare on the woman sitting on the bike decked out in leather.

"You know her?" Stiles asked hesitantly and pointed at the woman, he had jumped away from the bike too.

"Braeden." Scott nodded.

"Fuck me." Sydney muttered. This Braeden, this woman in leather was going to have to stop showing up when Sydney seemed to be ready to quit. She was giving the woman the wrong impression, no Sydney wasn't a quitter, she'd do what she had to in order to get Derek back and the only reason she hadn't figured out a way to get herself off that table back in the basement all that time ago was because she was too busy being pissed off at Peter, who was pretty much the reason she had been strapped to the table to start with.

"Who's Braeden?" Innocent little Kira inquired from her place against the jeep.

"She's a mercenary." Lydia nodded in response and Sydney bit back her venomous words. The woman on the bike looked from Lydia to Scott, her eyes lingering on Sydney's form. Sydney swallowed the growl that was forming in her throat and simply remained silent. Better not to get herself into more trouble, right?

"Right now, I'm the only one who's going to take you to la Iglesias." Braeden stated with a cocky tone. Sydney found herself thinking that maybe with a map and a GPS she could probably figure out how to get there too and she'd do it with a smile on her unscarred face.

_"_The church?" Lydia's tone was full of skepticism.

"What's The Church?" Stiles asked and Sydney scoffed at him.

"It's not a place you'll find God." Braeden piped up before Sydney had a chance to say another word.

"We're not looking for God, we're looking for Derek." Sydney muttered and Stiles reached out and nudged her with his fist. Sydney turned her glare on him but figured she should just remain quiet, what was the saying? 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all'? Not to mention, Braeden had the ability and skills to shoot Sydney and that was certainly a factor in her remaining quiet and complacent as well.

"Let's go." Scott offered and sidled up next to Stiles, the two males heading for the jeep. Sydney shook her head at them but made her own way to her car, hopping into the driver's seat and popping open the glove compartment.

Sydney glanced at the jeep in front of her, the girls were still piling into the back leaving her a few seconds to do what she wanted to do, and she grabbed hold of her phone, flipping it on. She had turned it off and stuffed it into her car before they even left California. She hadn't packed a charger, she didn't plan on being gone any longer than they had to, thus she had decided to save its power and leave it behind. Plus that way Peter couldn't call her and play the role of distraction, which Sydney knew he was very good at playing.

Shoving the glove compartment shut, Sydney watched the taillights on the jeep light up. She turned her own car on, shifted it into drive and began following the jeep, which was following the motorcycle. Taking her cell phone in her hand, she pressed the contacts button and dialed the only number she had left to call. Putting it on speaker phone, she set the phone on the dashboard and waited.

A few rings later, his voice came on the line. "I trust that this is just a check in and that I don't have to actually go to Mexico and drag your body home."

"Fuck you Peter, I've got a bone to pick." She shot back but felt her heart pick up at the sound of his smooth voice.

"With me? Has that Stilinski boy been feeding you stories about me?"

"How about you tell me why we're chasing Kate down right now?" Sydney's tone was ice cold and she swore she heard Peter suck in a breath.

"I'm not sure you're-"

"No no, I talk, you listen. So I'm stuck in this gross nasty bathroom with Stiles and we're listening to Scott get electrocuted by the same bitch who cut off your damn finger. The lights start flickering, I get a little antsy and then all of a sudden Kate's name is being brought up. Apparently she's not actually dead, she's the one who's got Derek."

"How unfortunate." Peter replied with a calm and sarcastic tone.

"Unfortunate yes. If I find out that you knew about this I will rip your heart out and shove it down your throat. Do I make myself clear?" Sydney barked into the phone.

"I love it when you get feisty." He drawled. "Too bad you're all the way in Mexico."

"Remember, I know where you sleep." Sydney growled.

"Yes, right next to you and I haven't heard any complaints yet."

Sydney felt her heart pounding now. She had to give it to Peter Hale. He certainly knew how to push her buttons and now she found herself missing him. Yes he was an asshole, hell he screwed up more often than not but that didn't mean she didn't love him. He was her mate, the only man in her life who stuck by her and she wasn't about to give that up.

"You're lucky the sex is amazing." Sydney's voice was calmer now and quite a bit softer.

"Speaking of sex, when do you plan on being home?"

Home, that word struck a chord with her. She hadn't really ever had a home, at least not one that she would gladly go back to, yet with Peter it was different. Home was with him, home was wherever he was, it wasn't necessarily his apartment, she had expressed her interest in eventually finding a house of their own, but at that moment, following Stiles' jeep, she found that she missed Beacon Hills, she missed Peter.

"I don't know." She shrugged and mentally cursed herself, Peter wouldn't have seen her shrug. "Soon hopefully."

She didn't have a chance to hear him reply, her eyes were locked on the jeep in front of her, watching as it started smoking from the front and clanged to a halt in the middle of the dirt road. Stiles, Scott and the three girls jumped out of the jeep and Sydney studied the panicked looks on their faces.

"…Sydney?"

"Oh shit, yeah, look I'm going to have to go."

"Why, what's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, look I'll call you later." Sydney reached her hand out and grabbed the phone as she pulled up carefully next to the jeep.

"Be careful." Peter's voice was uncharacteristically soft. "Kate's ruthless."

"I know. I love you." Sydney threw out and put her hand on the door handle, popping it open.

"I love you too."

Sydney pressed the hang up button and tossed her phone into the passenger's seat. She wandered around the car and made her way to the jeep in a jog.

"What happened?" Braeden's voice came out irate and Sydney had to stop herself from getting all up in the mercenary's face. These teenagers, _kids_ essentially, were doing their best, she had to lighten up and give them _some_ credit. They had gotten this far.

"I don't know. It felt like we hit something." Stiles shot back and Sydney dropped down to her hands and knees as she checked out the undercarriage of the vehicle.

"Scott, we need to get there by night, it's too dangerous otherwise." Braeden carried on and Sydney turned her attention to the scarred woman, her eyes flashing blue.

"Go." Stiles commanded and waved a hand at Scott.

"Not without you." Scott argued.

"Dude, someone needs to find Derek. We'll figure something out, we always do, just go."

"We could pile in my car." Sydney tossed out as she rose to her full height, brushing the dirt off of her hands and knees.

"I'm not leaving my jeep."

"Well I'm not leaving you." Sydney countered and caught the confused look on Malia's face. "I can stay with them Scott, I'll keep them safe."

"Okay." Scott sighed and Braeden headed back towards her bike, Scott trailing along behind her. Sydney looked at Kira and smiled as she rushed after him.

"Scott..." The alpha turned and faced the fox, "I can't think of anything else to say except for be careful and... and I know 'be careful' sounds kind of lame and I'm totally sure the second you're gone I'm going to think of something much better, but I..."

"Uh, 'be careful' works for me."

Sydney felt her heart swelling at the sight of the two of them hugging now, holding onto each other as if it were the last time they'd see the other. It was possible that that was the truth but it didn't stop Braeden from interrupting, the mercenary was grinding on Sydney's nerves once again.

"Scott, the sun's going down." She urged and Sydney waved her hand at her, motioning for her to just back off for a second.

"Hey, I got to go." Scott slowly peeled himself away from Kira and moved towards the bike, climbing onto the back before Braeden kicked up the dirt behind her, taking off down the road.

Malia crouched down near the passenger's side wheel well and started looking around. Sydney stepped up next to Stiles and clapped him on the back.

"He'll be fine, he's always fine." Sydney said softly and Stiles nodded along with her.

When Malia reached into the wheel well, she called out for Stiles. The human turned his attention towards her, watching as she pulled something free from the vehicle and making her way back up to her feet.

"I don't think we hit something, I think something hit us."

Sydney fought back the groan that she was desperate to let out. As if their journey couldn't get any worse? Now they all stood around the jeep looking at a giant clawed finger. What the hell was going to happen next?

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had pulled her car up right next to Stiles' jeep and had dug around in the trunk for anything useful. She had found a flashlight but, unfortunately, the batteries were dead. She had also found some blankets but it wasn't that cold _yet_ and no one was giving up. Sleeping was out of the question, at least not until they got word from Scott.

She had tried to explain to Stiles that maybe he should leave fixing his jeep to a pro but Stiles had been adamant about trying to fix it himself. Thank god Sydney had a small tool bag of her own in her car or else Stiles would have been stuck with a few wrenches and a pair of old rusted pliers. At least her father had taught her to always be prepared; Sydney could thank her old man for that.

"Maybe we should just walk." Lydia suggested, her voice breaking into the silence. The wind had picked up significantly and a warm breeze whipped at her hair. Sydney had peeled her jacket off long ago and abandoned it in the trunk. Now she was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, a dirty t-shirt that she was more than likely going to just throw out once she got home.

"Hey, I will never abandon this jeep, you understand me?" Stiles had pulled the tool out of his mouth to speak but had put it back between his teeth. "Ever. Ever."

"Work faster, Stiles." Malia commanded and took a long look around. Her hand was behind her and was pointing in Stiles' direction, Stiles was glancing at her, a confused look on his face. "There's something out here with us."

Sydney walked closer to Stiles, taking up a protective stance behind him. The sun was going down and she tried to focus her eyes on the dimming sky. She glanced around at the group that she was willing to protect and let her gaze land on Stiles. The kid had no idea how to fix his jeep but that didn't deter him. He wasn't going to leave the untrustworthy vehicle behind and Sydney had to give him credit. He was most definitely loyal.

The sun had disappeared now and Sydney kept a watchful eye on Kira as she walked around to the back of the jeep. The undeniable sound of a sword being drawn out of its case made Sydney perk up. If Kira was expecting to defend the jeep then Sydney was definitely in. She was willing to fight; in fact she thrived on the idea of kicking butt, no matter what kind of butt she was kicking. Hunter, supernatural creature, it didn't matter; she'd take them all on.

"Lydia, could you please hold the light still for a second? It's really hard to see anything if you keep shaking it like that." Stiles complained and Sydney strode over to stand next to Lydia, she made a grab for the flashlight but Lydia leveled a glare on the female alpha, Sydney immediately backing off. No sense fighting with Lydia, Sydney didn't want to put a rift in the group.

"I'm shaking it like this because we're in the middle of nowhere with your broken down jeep and we're being attacked by yet another razor-clawed monster...and I'm terrified."

Sydney scoffed at Lydia's confession. Okay so maybe she was a little nervous too but that was more to do with not knowing what was out there. Sydney had faith that she could take on whatever it was that was stalking them, especially if she had the help of a kitsune and a werecoyote.

"Well, just be slightly less terrified." Stiles countered and pulled out a piece of the jeep's engine, handing it to Lydia. "And hold this."

"What's this?" Lydia asked and Sydney couldn't contain it anymore. She let out a full blown bark of laughter. If this was Stiles' idea of fixing the jeep then they were in for a long night in Mexico, suddenly she was thankful that she had found the blankets in her trunk.

"I don't know. I'm hoping it's not important." Stiles replied nonchalantly and Sydney moseyed on up to the front of the jeep, coming to stand behind Kira and Malia.

"You gals see anything?" Sydney questioned in a low voice.

"It's too hard to see." Malia answered. "We should've brought another flashlight."

Sydney remained next to Malia as Kira marched to the front headlight of the jeep and held her sword in front of the beam of light. She twisted her hands gently and broke the light, using the sword to reflect it into the darkness.

"Did you see that?" Kira's words came out so fast that they blended together. That didn't stop Sydney from crouching down the slightest bit and forcing her claws and canines out. She scanned the area that Kira's light beam had been pointed in but saw nothing.

Malia let out a loud roar and took off into the darkness. Sydney shook her head at her recklessness but glanced back at Stiles, seeing the worried look on his face. Sydney ignored Kira and Stiles' pleas for Malia to come back as she took off herself, tracking the scent of the werecoyote who seemed relentless in her act of running away from the jeep.

Sydney slowed down as she headed for a narrowed pathway that lead right in between a rock wall and a hill. Kira was hot on her heels, her sword drawn and ready and Sydney fell back, moving next to the kitsune as they chased after Malia.

Kira jerked from side to side, swinging her blade aimlessly. Sydney quickly ducked to avoid being hit with the blade.

"Malia?" Sydney called out.

"Malia!" Kira called out too.

The two girls continued to look around, both of them moving sporadically. Sydney took a deep breath in an attempt to smell out Malia while Kira remained poised nearby.

Kira swung her blade back around but Malia threw her hands into the air as she appeared in the kitsune's direct line of sight.

"It's me! It's me, it's me."

Sydney hated that she was out in the middle of the desert looking for Peter's potential offspring but the look on Stiles' face when she had taken off broke her heart. The last thing Sydney wanted to have to do was to tell Stiles that Malia wasn't going to be returning to Beacon Hills with them, especially after he had made it clear that 'no one gets left behind in Mexico'.

"What happened? What's out there?" Kira asked, her voice low but laced with pure panic.

"I don't know, but it is big and fast, and it cuts deep."

Sydney pulled Malia against her side, supporting her as the three girls made their way back to the jeep as quickly as they could. The last thing the alpha female wanted was to be stuck out in the middle of the desert while Stiles and Lydia were left alone back at the jeep.

"Don't you dare pull that shit again." Sydney scolded and clutched the girl tighter against her body. "You could've been killed."

"Let's just get back to the jeep, okay?" Kira interjected, trying to avoid a fight between the wolf and the coyote.

"Alright but if she pulls anything like that again I can guarantee you I'm tying her to the car." Sydney snarled and Kira hummed her understanding.

By the time the trio made it back to the jeep, Stiles had the vehicle up and running, he was sitting behind the wheel while Lydia waited in the backseat, her arms hugging her body. Sydney helped carry Malia towards the jeep and let Kira climb into the back before she hauled Malia into the passenger's seat, Stiles flashing Sydney an appreciative nod.

"We're going to the church." Stiles stated, trying to keep his voice from faltering.

"Okay, I'll follow you in case that thing tries to take your jeep out again." Sydney nodded her reply and stepped away from the jeep, shutting the door on Malia. She gave Stiles a mock salute and rushed back to her car, climbing in and turning the engine on. She threw it into drive and took off after the jeep, which was moving at a much faster pace than Sydney had anticipated.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later that the jeep came to a barreling stop just outside of the ruins of what Sydney could only assume was the church in question. She slid her car to a stop next to the jeep and flipped her lights onto high.

Her eyes squinted but she could clearly make out three figures emerging from the ruins. Sydney rushed out of her car and moved in sync with Stiles' group as they approached Scott and Braeden dragging someone between them who smelled an awful lot like Derek, except this guy was much smaller and a lot less bulky.

Sydney rushed forward and when the Derek scented figure lifted his head, she fought back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. No, this couldn't be happening, this wasn't possible. Stiles rushed forward and gently moved her out of the way. Malia came up next to him and looked sideways at Stiles.

"Is that him? Is that Derek?" Malia questioned and Sydney choked back a sob.

"Uh, sort of."

"What did she do to you?" Sydney murmured and met the child version of Derek's eyes. He looked utterly lost and confused and so many questions flooded her mind.

If his body was taken back to when he was a child, was his mind the same? Was he merely the Derek she knew now only inside of a different body? Was his memory wiped clean? Would he know the people who had come to rescue him, would he know who she was, his best friend?

Well what the hell was she supposed to do with a kid-sized version of her best friend? Kate better be on the lookout because Sydney made a mental promise than when she got her hands on the psychotic bitch, she was going to end her and Kate would be praying that she'd make it quick.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_First thing is first: I'm planning on updating on a more consistent basis from here forward. Mondays and Thursdays will be the update days and I hope that you guys continue to read and enjoy! :)_**

**_Thank you again to all of you who have added this story to their favourites and alerts! _**

**_Special thanks to poorxbrokexcollegexkid, PassionForWritingAlex and SarcasticEnigma!_**

**_Lireal: Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! I'm glad that you liked the end part and Sydney and Kate have so many more encounters to look forward too! Her and Malia...it'll be tough for sure but who knows, maybe she'll come around. Sydney is definitely learning to trust Scott a little more than she did before so hopefully it works out for her lol!_**

**_Guest: Thank you so much and I hope you enjoyed chapter 3! _**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? I'd love to hear what you liked the best, how you guys feel towards Sydney and her interactions with the others. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 4****:**

Scott had sent her home, he had informed her that they could handle Derek and advised her to get some sleep, which she desperately wanted. Yes everyone looked and felt exhausted but there was something nagging at Stiles, who had informed Scott, and they had both agreed that Sydney needed to get to bed and quick. She didn't need to be up any later that necessary and with Scott's pack taking care of Derek, she could leave her best friend in good hands.

Maybe she was still feeling the effects of the wolfsbane poison in her system, maybe it had something to do with the drive she had to make all on her own, or maybe, just maybe, it was seeing Derek in what she had deemed a child's body. She was emotionally worn out as well as physically and the Mexican heat had gotten to her. Sydney wanted a cold shower and a good night's sleep.

Seeing anyone de-aged like Derek would have been tough to witness but this had been Sydney's best friend, the man who she spent the majority of her childhood running through the woods with, the man who she grew up with, cherished and loved as though they were family. Who was she kidding, they _were_ family and she felt that way before she mated herself to his uncle.

Her legs were tired, her feet hurt and she was so close to the apartment that she knew she'd feel the sweet relief soon enough. With only a few more stairs to go, Sydney fought back the desire to just collapse in the hallway and pressed forward. She pulled her wolf to the surface and lamely jogged to the door, dropping her shoulder against it and grabbing hold of the doorknob.

She wasn't entirely sure if she was expecting Peter to be awake; on one hand she wanted him to be sitting up, maybe reading a book or watching television, waiting for her but on the other hand she figured that her being gone wouldn't bother him at all and he'd be sound asleep in the bedroom.

When she turned the knob, the door popped open and Sydney stumbled forward, regaining her footing before she fell over. She slammed the door shut behind her, threw the bolt across and slowly, painstakingly slowly, pulled off her boots. She could smell her feet now and she let out a cough at the acrid odour.

"Were you walking through a sewage pond?" Peter's voice startled her and she jumped at the sound. Sydney flipped her jacket over her shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

"Mexico is _like_ a sewage pond." Sydney shot back and let out a groan as she rolled her shoulders back, trying to stretch her aching muscles. She reached down and grabbed hold of the bottom hem of her t-shirt and lifted it over her head. Sydney headed towards the kitchen, dropping her t-shirt onto the island before reaching out and pulling the fridge open.

Peter rose up from his place on the couch, closing the book in his hand. She had noticed that the television was not on, which meant that he was either reading for fun or he was trying to figure something out. She didn't care, she was more concerned about grabbing a drink and relieving the nagging thirst in her body.

Her hand wrapped around a bottle of water and she pulled it out, popping the top off before guzzling down half the contents. She let out a sigh and put the cap back on, moving back towards the island and dropping onto one of the stools. Peter wandered across the apartment and sat down beside her, his hand moving out towards her to brush her hair away from her face.

"Do I really smell that bad?" She questioned and let out a tired sigh. Shower and bed, those two things still weighed heavily on her mind.

"How was Mexico?" He countered, brushing off her statement with a smug smirk. She didn't need to hear his answer to know that she did, indeed, smell 'that bad'.

"Oh my god I just want to go to bed." She said and let out a loud, obnoxious yawn.

"You're not going to bed smelling like that-"

"Shower first, then bed. Come on, I'll try to make it worth your while." She dropped her gaze to his face and locked her eyes on his.

"You know I would never turn down a shower with you-"

"I'm sensing a but. Can you please just-"

His hand moved down from her hair and over her bare shoulder. He ran the backs of his fingers over her bicep and down her forearm before standing up and stepping closer. She sucked in a nervous breath as his palm, warm and soft, came to rest against her bare side. She let out a hum and shut her eyes, just basking in the comfort of his touch.

"Can I please just what?" He baited and jerked her body forward. She stood up and opened her eyes, pressing her chest against his. Without a shirt on, he studied her skin, the curves of her body, the dips of her breasts. She felt her heart pick up in speed and bit back a moan as his hand roamed upwards, stopping just under the band of her bra. His thumb ran across the skin over her ribs and her legs nearly gave out.

Sydney's arms shot out and wrapped around Peter's neck, holding onto him as his other hand repeated the process. She could feel every touch, every fingertip gently digging into her skin.

"Next time I go on a trip across the border, I'm booking myself a five star hotel room." She murmured and shifted her body forward so that her hips met his.

"Maybe you should consider not going across the border, ever again." He purred.

"What's with you?" She shook her head and pulled herself out of his hold. Something was up, something had to be up. While it wasn't always her that initiated anything intimate, she knew full well that for him to turn the tables on her, there had to be more to it, he had to want something out of it.

"Let's call it 'concern for my alpha'."

Sydney dropped her forehead against his shoulder and groaned at the motion. Her body was tired, _she_ was tired and now she was stuck playing games with him. Sydney ran her hands through his hair, her nails raking over his scalp.

"Malia was there." Sydney confessed and felt his body tense at the mentioning of his daughter. "I met her."

"Does she look like me?"

"She certainly has your flair for dramatics." Sydney scoffed and lifted her head, meeting his curious gaze.

"What-"

"She and Stiles are super close." Sydney cut him off. "And she seems to have an aversion to Lydia."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Peter cooed and gripped Sydney's side harder before letting go of her, his palms running over her back as he took her into an embrace.

"Fuck you." She shot back but there was very little conviction in her voice. She was too tired to fight and too drained to argue. "Trust me when I say this; I am _not_ as close to Stiles as she is."

Peter cocked his head at her and she blew out a breath. Sydney leaned forward and pressed her lips against his, seeking any bit of comfort that she could. Peter kissed her back and slipped his hands to the middle of her back before unclasping her bra. She smiled against his lips and slowly peeled away from him, feeling the undergarment just barely clinging to her body.

"Did you run into any problems?"

"Any _more_ problems, no. We got Derek, albeit a younger, smaller version of him."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Baby Derek." Sydney nodded confidently. "Just like I remember him looking when I was a teenager."

"Baby Derek?"

"Something happened to him…look I don't know, I'm tired, sore and I just want to get rid of this dirty feeling. Can I have a shower?" Sydney spluttered and leaned back in his grasp. She pulled her hands away from him and crossed them over her chest, keeping her bra securely against her skin.

"Sydney please, I'm not trying to keep you from-"

"Are you coming then?" She cocked her head to the side and turned on her heels.

With her back towards him, she slowly peeled her arms away from her chest and slipped the straps over her shoulders. Peter's eyes didn't leave her form as she let the garment slip away from her body, letting it fall to the floor.

Sydney looked over her shoulder at him and took her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Do you need me to convince you?" Sydney asked and turned her attention to the bathroom door. "Or…or…"

"Or what? Sydney?" Peter stepped towards her and extended his hand in her direction. "Or what?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor and shook her head. When his hand grazed her shoulder she flinched out of his way and covered her bare chest with her hands.

"You have a kid." She murmured. "I tried, really, but I just…"

"What are you saying?"

"She's cute. She's brave and she'd do anything for Stiles." Sydney admitted and sucked in a breath. "It scares me how much of me I see in her."

"Sydney I don't-"

"I'm just going to go have a shower and go to bed." She nodded.

Before Peter could muster up the nerve to say another word, she had disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Whatever was going with her, whatever had changed in her mind, Peter knew he was going to figure it out. Not everything that happened in Mexico was going to stay in Mexico.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX **_

The words that Peter would have used to describe Sydney would have to be uncharacteristically quiet. He had experienced her before when she wasn't completely up to talking to him, hell he'd been given the silent treatment once or twice before but this, the way she completely avoided making any sort of conversation with him, was different, awkwardly different and Peter wasn't sure if it was because of something he did or if it was because of something that had happened in Mexico.

Either way, he wasn't going to nag her, there'd be plenty of time to figure out what her deal was later, for now though, he needed to get his hands on a book, a book that he was certain was somewhere in the loft.

They had arrived in the afternoon and Peter had immediately begun scouring the first floor of Derek's home. Sydney had left her jacket on and dropped overdramatically onto the couch, a loud huff escaping her throat. She had laid there for the entire time that Peter had been searching, not offering to help him at all, not even making a move to speak to him.

He could tell that something was bothering her and maybe Malia played a bigger role in her weird behaviour than he figured but they had talked about it, she had told him that she wasn't going to play the role of mother and he had informed her that he would never expect her too. Was that not good enough for her, did she not get that? She was his life; he had given up so much for her. He had given up his alpha spark to save her, to bring her back and give her a second chance. That had to mean something to her, didn't it?

"How much longer are you going to be?" She asked, breaking the blanket of silence that had fallen between them. She was laying on her back on the couch, her feet flat on the cushions and her knees in the air wiggling back at forth. He had looked back at her a few times since they had arrived and she had her hands shoved between her thighs each and every time.

"We might be out of here faster if you decided to help." Peter shot back and Sydney scoffed at him. Yes, she was officially mad at him but for what exactly, he wasn't sure.

He had tried to curl up with her in bed during the night but she had moved away from him and snuggled up with a pillow. Eventually, after a few more tries and her running out of room on the bed, she had relented and let him hang on to her, but she had slipped her fingers between his and made sure that his hand stayed just above her hip, not an inch higher and not a hair lower.

"Malia's not Eden's kid, is she?" Sydney questioned and sat up straight, resting her arm along the back of the couch, her face in Peter's direction. "I mean, you'd know that you had a kid if that was the case, right?"

"I didn't even _know_ Eden until I was your age." Peter answered and Sydney nodded her understanding. "You're it for me, you know that right?"

Sydney shrugged at him and pursed her lips. She ran her tongue over her teeth and swung her legs off the couch, making her way to her feet. Eden: no Sydney figured that she wasn't Malia's mother. Peter had told her all about his dead wife before and she figured if he could remember Eden clearly then he'd certainly remember having a kid with her, right? She had asked more for confirmation than anything.

Sydney sauntered across the loft and came to stand next to him, inhaling his scent, listening to his heartbeat. He wasn't lying, or if he was he was doing a stand up job at hiding it.

"This is hard for me."

"Malia?"

"Us. We're mated and I love you, really, I wouldn't trade you for anyone."

"Not even Chris Argent?" Peter teased and she glared at him. Apparently it was not a time for joking.

"You have a kid who is a lot like me from what I can see. I don't like sharing okay and I've never had to. I just think maybe we should slow things down a little."

"How do you suggest we do that?"

"I don't know. This is my first _real_ relationship. You're the first guy I've ever felt like this about and I don't want to lose you. It just feels like maybe there's something missing?"

"You're not about to tell me that you want a family of your own, are you?"

Sydney tensed at his accusation but shook her head no. A family was the farthest thing from her mind. She hated the idea of pregnancy and then actually having to take care of another little person. She was perfectly content with the struggles of taking care of herself without the added stress of a baby.

"I want you." She murmured. "But _only _you."

"Well-"

"What's the name of this book we're looking for?" Sydney cut him off and Peter could easily sense the hesitation in her voice. He brushed it off and pushed the task at hand back to the forefront, clearly Sydney was done talking about whatever was bothering her.

"It's an old mythology book."

Sydney listened to him in silence as he described what it was supposed to look like. She took off for the stairs and disappeared up to the next level in the loft. Glancing back and seeing that she was out of sight, Peter's thoughts immediately wandered to what could possibly be bothering her this much.

He understood that she was upset, frustrated, and even a little jealous of Malia but had he not reassured her that she was the most important thing? Had he not made it clear with his actions that he'd give up power if it meant protecting her?

"Is this it?" Sydney's form appeared at the top of the staircase and she galloped down them, a book tucked in her arms. She hit the floor at the bottom and slowly jogged towards him, holding out a book that fit the description he had given her.

"It is." He nodded and gently took the book out of her hold. Peter stepped towards the couch, Sydney following his lead and when he sat down in the cushions, she sat down next to him, leaning against his side and staring at the cover as he opened it, scanning the pages as she tried to read the words.

Sydney rested her chin on his shoulder, her eyes moving along with the sentences but she wasn't absorbing any of the information contained within the book. Peter slowly turned his head towards her and she leaned back slightly, looking at him.

"What?" She asked softly, shying away from his gaze.

"Nothing." He replied, his voice equally as soft.

She took her bottom lip between her teeth and just stared at him. Peter shifted on the couch and leaned towards her, his eyes never leaving hers as he closed the distance between them. When his lips pressed against hers, he felt her body relax behind him. She kissed him back, tilting her head and putting slightly more pressure against his mouth.

When his hand roamed up her side and stopped on the side of her neck, her body froze and she waited, wanting this to continue. It didn't matter that she was mad at that second, not when he was kissing her like she was the only girl in the world, like she was his everything. Seconds like these were what made her stay with him, they were what made their entire relationship, fights and all, worth it.

Peter slowly pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. She let out a sigh and relaxed against the material of the couch, leaning against him once again.

"You're beautiful." He murmured.

Peter pulled his eyes off her and looked back at the book. Sydney remained silent behind him as he tried to search for what he had been after.

It wasn't even five minutes later that Scott McCall and the infamous Malia hauled the door to the loft open. Sydney's eyes jerked upwards and locked on the true alpha, Scott giving her a nervous smile. Yes when she was not by Peter's side she had proven to be a decent ally but this was a different ballgame, he was in her territory now and this meant that Sydney was a wild card, she was unpredictable.

The two of them sauntered into the loft leaving the door wide open.

"What's wrong with you?" Malia asked Scott and Sydney rolled her eyes at the two of them.

"Nothing." Scott countered.

"Your heart is pounding like crazy, are you nervous?" Malia prodded and Sydney shifted her legs the tiniest bit.

"He's just bad at introductions." Peter broke in and Sydney jumped the slightest bit. She hadn't been expecting him to speak so soon and so outright.

Scott turned his attention to the two of them on the couch now.

"Peter." He said hesitantly and looked back to the girl next to him. Sydney already knew who she was but that didn't stop Scott from carrying on. "This is Malia."

He let the pages fall shut and moved off the couch, leaving Sydney all alone on the piece of furniture. She watched in awe as he stood up, eyes locked on the girl in the middle of the loft, studying her young face, taking in each and every feature. Sydney swallowed, forcing the rumble in her throat to go away before it had a chance to surface.

"Beautiful eyes." Peter remarked. "Did you get them from your father?"

Sydney ground her teeth together and felt her jaw tightening. When she ran her tongue over her teeth, she was almost surprised to find her canines were sharp, piercing her tongue and drawing blood. He was complimenting this girl, this irritating werecoyote when all he really ever called Sydney was infuriating, especially when she first showed up at his door. Had he ever said anything about her eyes? Not that she could recall.

"Mother." Malia countered and Sydney dropped her feet down to the floor, two distinct thuds echoing in the loft. Apparently Scott was the only one paying her any attention and he flashed her a look of, what was that, sympathy? Did Scott really feel sorry for her? She didn't need that, she didn't need his pity. Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and just watched the scene unfolding in front of her.

"Interesting." Peter's eyes ran up and down the girl's body. "Anyway, I'm sure they told you all about me."

"The homicidal killing spree came up." Malia's tone was accusing and judgemental. Who did this girl think she was? Sydney focused on calming her wolf down, her teeth blunting within seconds. She took a couple of steps forward and stood just behind Peter, showing Scott where she really stood. Yes they were allies but only if it was against a common enemy, Peter would _never _be a common enemy. If Scott threatened him, well then he better watch out, Sydney didn't take kindly to threats.

"Oh, we're all works in progress." Peter offered up casually and Sydney rolled her eyes at the exchange.

"Well when you progress to your next killing spree, why don't you make sure they all stay dead?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter questioned defensively, wondering where this girl was getting her information. She seemed to be throwing out accusations left, right and centre, yet she had only been around for a short period of time.

"What do you know about people being turned by a scratch?" Scott cut in and suddenly Peter peeled his eyes off the werecoyote.

"Did you scratch someone Scott? Don't worry about it, claws have to go pretty deep."

Peter turned his back on the alpha and took a few steps away from not only Scott but Sydney too. She held her breath and waited for everything to fall into place. She had it all figured out at this point, it didn't take much but Peter seemed unaware of what was really going on.

"But it _is_ possible?" Scott shot out. "Like if you _clawed out someone's throat_?"

"Well yeah, it's possible but it's also beyond rare." Peter moved so that his back was to the window. Sydney turned her attention to Scott, hoping that Peter would get it soon enough. Kate was back, he was the one who had ripped her throat out, was it going to take much longer before he figured it out all on his own? For a man who gave off an air of superiority, Sydney found that he was rather slow to pick up on things. "We're talking one in a…million."

Sydney choked back a scoff in an attempt to not draw attention to herself but it was too late. All eyes were on her and when Malia finally took in her face, recognition flashed across her eyes.

"What's she doing here?" Malia questioned, studying Sydney's form, clearly confused and concerned as to why the woman who had helped them in Mexico was now standing in the loft with them. Sydney hadn't shown up with them, no, she had been there when they walked in. She had been _with_ Peter.

"She's actually living with Peter." Scott threw out, trying to diffuse the situation. Malia furrowed her eyebrows at Scott's explanation and Sydney nodded her agreement.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go." Sydney added quickly.

"She helped us. In Mexico, she helped us and all along she's been with, with him?" Malia glared at Sydney but the female alpha just stood her ground. She didn't flinch, she didn't tense, she just stayed still. Sydney wasn't one hundred percent sure but she swore Malia muttered something about 'Satan in a v-neck'.

"She's friends with Stiles." Scott pointed out.

"Good friends." Sydney grumbled.

"Guys, can we maybe focus on this whole Kate being alive issue?" Scott shook his head and made a move to stand in between the two females. It was absolutely no use trying to get them to understand each other.

"Fine. Stupid Kate." Sydney muttered and let out a huff of frustration. She threw her hands into the air and paced away from them, groaning as she flopped down onto the couch. Peter flashed her an unamused look but did exactly what Scott had asked.

"Can't someone in this town stay dead?" Peter ranted and took a few steps away from Scott.

"I think they were hoping you would." Malia pointed out and Sydney snorted at her. If she only knew what had really gone on, that Peter had brought her back, that she had just insulted her own father. It _was_ rather comical, if it didn't make her angry, she might have laughed.

"Do you have any idea why Kate would turn Derek into a teenager again?" Scott asked and brought the conversation back to the point of their visit.

"What colour were his eyes?" Peter asked right back after a few seconds of hesitation. Sydney twisted onto her back and rolled her own eyes at his question. She lifted her hands upwards and pawed at the air, trying to distract herself from what was really going on. Malia being in the same room as her and Peter was severely uncomfortable and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to act.

"Blue." Scott answered.

"After Paige." Peter paused as though an idea had come to mind. "Which could mean around the time he first met Kate."

"Derek and Kate knew each other?"

"Fuck's sake." Sydney groaned and wondered just how clueless Scott McCall, true alpha extraordinaire, really was.

"Biblically." Peter answered, clearly ignoring Sydney's remark. "That's right Scott. You weren't the first wolf to climb into a hunter's bed."

"Hey maybe he has a kid out there somewhere too." Sydney muttered and Peter shot a glare in her direction. She sat up and stared right back, almost challenging him to say something, to bring her to the breaking point that she was so close to reaching. "Fucking Hales."

"You know, I don't understand what your problem is." Malia growled and turned her body in Sydney's direction.

"I don't have a problem." Sydney retorted, much like a child would do.

"Really, because you're really starting to give me the impression that you do."

"Yeah, maybe I wasn't loved enough as a child." Sydney ground out. "Maybe it's the fact that my best friend is now a teenaged version of himself. Maybe it's because I just spent what I was hoping would be a fun trip to Mexico being attacked, gassed and held prisoner."

"We have bigger things to worry about!" Scott's voice was commanding. "Like what's going on with Derek and why I just had to get him out of the Sheriff's station."

"He was arrested?" Sydney's tone instantly softened at Scott's admission.

"He was taken in when he attacked two deputies at the site of the Hale house, or at least, what's left of it."

"He tried to go…home." Sydney murmured and rolled right off the couch, landing on her feet next to it. She rushed across the loft, finally feeling like maybe she could help, but Peter was already pacing, thinking about the information Scott had just provided for him.

"Okay. Derek went to the site of the house thinking it was still there, right?" Peter questioned and Sydney fell in next to him, snuggling up against his side.

"Yeah but he doesn't remember the fire." Scott said back.

"But if he doesn't remember the fire, then he doesn't remember that it was Kate that set it."

"So what does that mean?" Malia broke in. Apparently the two girls were going to be civil so long as they were trying to figure this out. Sydney vowed that once it was over, she was going to make sure the werecoyote knew exactly where she stood in regards to Stiles _and_ Peter.

"Kate didn't just take him back to being a teenager; she took him back to the age where he still knew her, when he still trusted her."

"Oh shit." Sydney muttered and shoved her hand into her pocket, fishing for her cell phone.

"Derek's with Stiles right now, he's at my house." Scott offered and pulled his own phone out, watching as Stiles' name flashed across the screen. Sydney stopped searching for her own phone and relaxed the tiniest bit against Peter, the older Hale watching Malia while she was too distracted to notice, too busy eying up Scott.

Sydney reached over and slid her palms against his forearm, running her fingers along his skin before attempting to intertwine her fingers with his. Peter, to Sydney's surprise, actually let her take hold of his hand.

She remained quiet, her own eyes trailing up and down Malia now, waiting for their next move. Scott had sought out Peter, he had come looking for the man in the hopes that he would be able to help them get Derek back to the man he was supposed to be but that didn't mean Peter would be willing to help them. In fact, Sydney wasn't entirely sure why he had been civil thus far.

"We think Kate's going to try to find Derek." Scott's urgent words pierced Sydney's skull and she flinched at the name. She had never liked Kate Argent and when she found out that she was alive, part of her wanted nothing more than to hunt her down and rip her apart.

"I want to go home." Sydney murmured and Peter lifted his hand to wave her complaints off. He was focused on the voice coming from the other end of the phone. When Stiles confirmed what they had already suspected, Peter ripped his hand out of Sydney's grasp and took off for the door just in front of Malia.

"Wait." Scott called out and Sydney made a move to follow Peter. She fought back the urge to sigh but pressed forward.

"For what?" Peter countered and Sydney sauntered towards him now, tucking her hands into her pockets. "Kate's out there twisting her way into Derek's head yet again. We need to find her."

"All we need is a scent." Malia added and Sydney looked to Scott for instruction. Yes she was an alpha herself and she could handle the situation her own way but Scott was noble, he'd have something up his sleeve and maybe she should give him a chance. After all, he was telling them to wait and Sydney didn't really want to go running off into the night in a lame attempt to track Kate down.

"That could take hours. If we want to get ahead of her, we need to figure out where she's going."

"Derek's pants for one." Sydney grumbled and rolled her eyes at the whole situation. "You can't figure out what she's got planned Scott, she's certifiably insane, no one could possibly understand what goes on in her head, she's a nut job!"

Scott met Sydney's eyes but slowly turned his attention to Peter now. Malia followed Scott's gaze and Sydney let out a huff at the implication. Peter might be a little on the crazy side but he was _not_ a nut job…was he?

"Not to underestimate my own cognitive faculties, but we're not exactly a brain trust of geniuses here." Peter drawled in response, brushing off the implications that had been directed his way.

"Then maybe we should call one." Scott smirked and lifted his phone into the air.

"Lydia's not a fucking genius." Sydney tossed her hands into the air and marched towards the window. She pressed her palms against the sill and stared out into the night, watching the moon glitter high in the sky. It was moments like these that she seriously considered going back to Colorado, at least there she wouldn't have to deal with psychotic hunters and weird supernatural creatures.

Sydney dropped her forehead against the cool glass and squeezed her eyes shut. She focused on the beating of her own pounding heart and forced everything else out of her head, Scott talking to Lydia, Lydia's low voice sounding out from the phone, hell until Peter spoke once more she had managed to completely block out everything inside the loft.

"I don't think she could help it. This was done in a frenzy, it's not a murder. It's a symptom."

Sydney pushed herself away from the window and walked over to Scott, catching a glimpse at the photos that Lydia had sent over from the apparent slaughter site of a gas station attendant. Her stomach turned at the sight and she was immediately taken back to when she was ten years old, in her very own kitchen, watching her parents', hearing their desperate pleas.

She shook her head, swallowed the threat of bile rising in her throat and looked up at the ceiling. She blinked away the tears that had started to form in her eyes at the memories, the horrific, awful, disturbing memories.

"Of what?" Scott questioned and Sydney lifted her hand up, pressing her palm against her chest, directly over her heart.

"She can't control the shift."

"Derek said he had the same issue on the full moon. That he was still learning."

"Kate's still learning?" Malia's voice brought a low growl out of Sydney but Peter tossed her a look.

"She wants to learn."

"God damn crazy bitch." Sydney scoffed. "She shouldn't be worrying about learning to shift because when I get my hands on her I'm going to rip her eyeballs out of her head and shove them up her-"

"So she wants Derek to teach her?" Malia cut her off before she could finish her graphic threat. Sydney glared at the werecoyote and made a move towards the door. Peter watched in curiosity as she ascended the couple of steps. Sydney stopped inside the doorway and leaned against it, watching, waiting.

"No. She wants the Triskelion."

"Okay and where exactly would she be going to get that?" Sydney's tone came off almost as though she were bored. Truthfully she was getting fed up. If it weren't for Scott and Malia showing up at the loft, she could have been spending her night alone with Peter, something she was desperately craving ever since she laid eyes on Malia.

"The vault." Peter nodded and stepped across the loft, stopping at the base of the steps. Scott and Malia rushed ahead, bypassing Sydney who remained standing in the doorway.

"The vault?" Sydney cocked her head to the side, Peter stepping up to stand just in front of her. "You have a vault. I know I probably shouldn't be surprised but I am. What else don't I know?"

"All in due time." Peter smirked at her, slipped his hand across her shoulders and nudged her forward. She let out a frustrated huff and marched out into the hallway.

Nothing said romance like a trip to a secret vault, especially with Peter's kid tagging along. Sydney could barely contain her joy.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_I appreciate everyone who has viewed this story, read the chapters and added it to their favourite/alerts! You guys are truly amazing. _**

**_poorxbrok_****_excollegexkid: Sydney reluctantly helping Malia, yes! She just wants everyone to survive, that's all :) I think we'll see her start to realize that Scott's not as bad as she really believes! Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_Lireal: Syd and Braeden will meet again and hopefully it's just as entertaining! Here you are, more Peter and Sydney for you! Thanks so much for leaving me a review and I hope you continue to read and enjoy!_**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? Got any favourite parts, maybe something one of the characters said? How'd you like the interaction between Syd and Malia? _**

**_If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 5****:**

Running was not one of Sydney's favourite past times, in fact if she could avoid running at all costs, she usually did. It wasn't that it made her tired, she was actually really good at running, she just hated doing it. She had been running a lot of her life, running away from her parents limp carcasses, running away from Beacon Hills to live with her grandparents, running away from her grandparents' house in Colorado. No, Sydney was definitely done with running.

She found herself back at the high school; Malia, Scott and Peter seemed pretty gung ho about whatever was going on but there was a part of Sydney that just wanted to get Malia away from her, to get the girl back where she belonged, wherever that happened to be.

Peter was in front of them, jogging lightly towards a set of stairs. The sky was dark; the wind was blowing, stirring up leaves in its wake. It was eerie and Sydney felt her entire body go into high alert. Something was bound to happen, something always happened. There was no way they were going to get to the vault, stop Kate and get Derek back without something going wrong, so very wrong.

When Malia came to a stop in the middle of the two flights of stairs, Sydney debated shoving her forward but she had felt something, smelled it even and she stopped too. Something was definitely off. The young werecoyote turned and faced the direction that they had just come from. Sydney moved closer to Peter, making her way around to his other side, where she stood and stared out into the darkness in the same direction as Malia.

"Did you catch a scent?" Scott was the first one to speak and his voice cut into the quiet night air like a knife. She glanced from Scott to Malia and inhaled a deep breath.

"It's the same one. The same one as Mexico."

Peter looked to Scott but slowly closed the distance between himself and Malia, who was now looking around, clearly trying to pinpoint where the smell had been coming from. Sydney strode forward and stepped in front of Peter, ready to protect her pack as an alpha should, at least if it came to that. She was silently praying that it wouldn't.

"What is she talking about?" Peter asked in a low tone and looked to Scott. His gaze whipped away from Scott and landed on Malia, Sydney rolled her shoulders back and forced her sharp canines out.

"One of them came after us in the Church ruins." Scott explained quickly.

"And one on the road." Malia mounted the next few steps and was now within Sydney's reach. "They couldn't have followed us here."

"But they could've been brought, by Kate." Scott deduced and if Sydney wasn't in fight mode then maybe she would have shot back with a sarcastic retort. Kate could have done anything if she wanted too, bringing strange creatures back to Beacon Hills with her wasn't something that warranted a brainstorming session, it just made sense.

Sydney lowered her body slightly and remained absolutely still. The low rumbling sounds echoed in the windy night air and the growling sounded like something she had never heard before. She was ready though, she wasn't about to go down without a fight and she knew that Scott wouldn't either. At least with the four of them, they maybe stood a chance at taking care of whatever was out there, lurking in the dark.

"Oh, I've heard that sound before." Peter seemed to know exactly what was hunting them though and Sydney mentally counted to three, fighting back her very own growl that was building deep in her gut. "Did it have an animal skull? A human wearing a skull over its face?"

She took a slow step backwards, moving towards Peter, and felt her thigh brush against his hip. He reached out quickly and grabbed the bottom hem of her jacket, keeping her in place, keeping her near him and under control. Sydney straightened up and looked at him.

"I think so." Malia answered.

"What are they?" More questions, always more questions. Scott never stopped asking questions and Sydney was beginning to wonder if she really wanted to hear the answers.

"What's going on?" Sydney murmured and watched the dark shadowy scenery in front of her. She still couldn't see anything and the rumbling noises, the guttural growling sounds, continued to sound out from the dimly lit tunnel not too far away.

"Berserkers." Peter said with such theatrics that Sydney reached her fist out and slugged him in the shoulder. Scott's attention had remained on Malia, who was still staring out in front of her.

"Such an asshole." Sydney hissed and twisted her body so that he let go of her jacket. "Could you have said that with anymore gusto? As if we weren't freaked out enough."

Turning towards the tunnel, Sydney's eyes immediately locked on the eerie figure. Sharp entities protruded from its arms as though it had upper body armour made of blades, the footsteps were heavy and loud, sounding like the creature had on heavy boots. She could see that whatever it was, was wearing some sort of bone armour with a long faced animal skull covering its head.

Malia's body tensed at the sight and she made a move to lunge for it. Sydney wasn't about to leave her hanging, she wanted to fight, she wanted to prove that she could hold her own and this berserker, as intimidating as it looked, was surely no match for the female alpha, especially if she had help in the form of a somewhat vicious werecoyote.

Peter's arms shot out, his one hand coming across Sydney's chest as he grabbed Malia's shoulder with his other hand. Sydney stopped dead in her tracks at the feel of his limb brushing against her chest. She looked at the strange figure in front of them, studying its slow, almost calculated footsteps.

"Are you two crazy?" Peter scolded and pulled Malia back a few inches. He gave Sydney a rough shove towards the stairs and she stumbled for a few seconds before regaining her footing and pausing, waiting for Peter to give her further instruction. Okay, so maybe now was not the time for a fight but that didn't mean she wasn't pleased about being held back. Peter clearly knew something about this berserker that she didn't and Sydney knew enough to follow his lead when it came to unfamiliar supernatural creatures.

"There's just one of them." Malia shot back and tried to move forward, Peter's tight grasp on her shoulder held her back. Sydney took a deep breath and felt a shiver run down her spine at the rumbling sound that continued to sound out from the creature. She could feel the vibrations of its growl in her own bones, an uneasy feeling, something close to dread, flooded her body.

"And there're four of us." Sydney added, hoping that maybe Peter would give her a chance; maybe he just needed to know that they were all willing to fight. There was no way that one berserker could take on three wolves and a coyote, was there?

"And that means we have a chance." Peter's voice sounded more desperate than normal and that in itself was a red flag for Sydney. She wasn't going to attack for sure, not if Peter seemed extremely wary and very scared of what kind of punishment this berserker could inflict upon them.

"To beat him?" Malia bounced on her heels, itching for a fight and Sydney, who had also been ready for a fight ten seconds earlier, was waiting at the foot of the steps, hoping they'd move away from the berserker soon. Sydney didn't want to continue to just stand there, waiting for it to close in on them.

"To survive." Peter pulled his hand away from Malia's shoulder and turned towards Sydney.

He took off running up the stairs, only pausing at the top to make sure that she was right behind him. Sydney didn't look back at Scott or Malia as she kicked it into high gear and ran as fast as she could to catch up to Peter. She fell in stride next to him but he reached out, pressing his arm around her back and gently shoved her forward, keeping her in his sights as they ran away from the berserker.

She still hated running but she knew that if she stopped she'd have to face this creepy creature, this giant, scary thing with the animal skull, and if Peter was running, which had to mean it was more dangerous, more skilled, than it looked, then she'd run too. She had wanted to try to take it on but something in the way it had Peter acting had brought her back to reality. She was in fight or flight mode and flight took over. She had to learn to choose her battles and this was one that Peter wanted no part of and she wasn't about to take the berserker on all by herself.

"Sydney!" He called out for her and veered off to the right. Sydney pushed off with her left foot and rushed towards him, closing the distance between them.

Peter's hand came out towards her and Sydney latched on without hesitation. She wasn't going to get lost; she wasn't going to wind up alone and leave Peter to fend for himself, she was going to make sure she didn't leave his side. She was going to stick with him and when their hands connected, she surged forward, her speed matching his as he led them towards the sign for the high school.

His pace slowed as they approached the signage and he dropped to a quick walk instead of a run. Sydney flanked him on his right as they approached the opening in the ground, directly under the Beacon Hills high school sign. She squeezed his hand harder and brought his attention to her, her eyes filled with fury at the thought of Kate being so close.

"She's here." Sydney whispered and tucked her body against his side, clinging to his hand with everything she had.

"And so is Derek." Peter countered and took a step into the opening in the ground.

Sydney followed him in, remaining one step behind him at all times. She felt her chest tighten knowing that Kate Argent was so close that Sydney could end her tonight, she could engage her in a fight and rip her apart, just like she said she was going to, especially if she was having trouble learning to control her shifting.

Peter's grasp on her hand tightened and brought Sydney out of her thoughts. He had no doubt in his mind that Sydney wanted to shred the Argent woman who had caused their families so much grief but there was a time and place for everything and he wasn't about to lead Sydney into a slaughter. He'd let her go after Kate but _only_ if he felt she could easily come out on top, a guaranteed win for his mate. He wasn't taking chances, especially not after almost losing her once before.

"What's she after?" Sydney asked softly as they descended the steps, coming to a stop in front of an open gate that looked like a bunch of railings welded together horizontally.

"The Triskelion. She believes it's going to help her."

"Help her? With her shifting?"

"It's what she believes."

Sydney followed closely behind Peter as they ventured further into the vault. She gasped at the sight of yet another staircase, this one much wider than the first one. Peter stood still at the top and listened to the exchange between Kate and Derek. Kate had questioned Derek on the authenticity of the object and Derek, not knowing any better, confirmed that it was exactly what she was looking for.

"It doesn't look like much." Kate stated skeptically and Sydney felt her arm being tugged on as Peter finally decided to descend down the steps, emerging from the darkness and making his presence known inside the vault.

"That's because it isn't." Peter drawled and dropped down, step by agonizing step. He let go of her hand and Sydney hesitated. She remained standing on a step about halfway down and watched in awe as Kate and Derek, who was still a teenager, turned to look at Peter, clearly not expecting to be interrupted. He marched forward as he carried on with his spiel. "Quite the elaborate scheme you have here, Kate. Two countries, Aztec temples, Derek returned to a teenager: one that trusted you, one that loved you. All this complication just to gain access to our vault, just to get your hands on that little piece of junk? Turn it over. Go ahead. There's a scrape on the back where it used to say 'Made in China'."

Sydney locked her eyes on teenaged Derek and felt her heart pick up in pace. There had been a time when he _had_ trusted Kate, much to everyone's dismay. He _had_ loved her and she had broken that bond, she had burned his family without so much as a second thought, she had destroyed his house, his home, his _life_ and Sydney knew that this was going to hurt more than she could have imagined, especially when he was back to his usual self. There were no ifs about it; Sydney was going to get her Derek back, no matter what.

He hated himself for the decimation of his family enough as it was, now he was being played like a fiddle and there was nothing that he could do to stop it. He believed every word that Kate was feeding him, he had brought her to a vault that even Sydney hadn't been informed of the location of and for what? Was Kate really that methodical? Would she really have put that much effort into a plan? If she wanted something bad enough, Sydney didn't doubt that she'd do whatever she could to get her hands on it, whether it be Derek or something as trivial as the Triskelion Peter had mentioned.

"You're lying." Kate growled in Peter's direction and Sydney galloped down the remaining steps quickly. She carefully crossed the room and came to a stop a few feet behind Peter, ready to back him up if she decided to spring an attack on him. Derek seemed to be studying her just as she had been studying him seconds ago. Would Derek recognize her? Even though she didn't look exactly the same as she had when she was a teenager, would that stop him from recognizing her, the girl who had been his best friend for years?

"I admit I have a tendency to exaggerate things but in this case the truth is so much more fun." Peter flipped his hands out to his sides and Sydney stepped around him, closing in on Kate. If she made a move, Sydney would be all over her in a heartbeat. "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart, that little pendant is just a physical object to focus on. It's training wheels. Talia used it to teach Laura. I _tried_ to use it to teach Derek."

"Training wheels?" Sydney murmured. She had never had anyone try to teach her the technique of shifting with any sort of object. Her father had been the first one to give it a go and Sydney had been way less than successful. She had nearly mauled his body but that didn't stop him. It had taken weeks, months even before she had the slightest bit of control but when she had gotten it, without the use of objects, she had made her father proud.

A deep guttural roar sounded out from somewhere outside the vault and everyone in the room turned towards the opening, trying to distinguish who it was from and why. It didn't take much for Sydney to conclude that it was Scott who had let out the roar, the roar of an alpha, but was he in pain? Was he trying to use it to intimidate the berserker, was there more than one now? Was he may be trying to scare them off?

"Is this real?" Kate reached out and grabbed at Derek, hauling him forward. Sydney let out a low growl and took a step towards them; no one manhandled her best friend like that. "Tell me if this is real."

"Didn't you hear that? That was Scott. I just heard Scott..." Derek shot back, his words coming out faster than anyone had anticipated. Sydney let out another low growl but no one seemed to be paying any attention to her.

She tried to step forward, to get to Kate and get her off of Derek but Peter's hand shot out and latched onto her shoulder, pulling her back and silently calling her off.

"Tell me!" Kate screamed in Derek's face and Sydney turned her head away from the exchange. She couldn't watch Kate yelling at Derek, she couldn't handle Derek trying to get away from the former hunter so that he could rush to Scott's aid. It hurt; it brought back all the pain, the agony, the memories that Sydney had tucked away. Derek didn't deserve this; he didn't deserve any of it. He was a good man.

"I don't know and I don't care!"

Derek ripped himself out of Kate's grasp and Sydney listened to his footfalls as he took off for the exit. Sydney debated for a few seconds what her next move was going to be. She could run after Derek and help him aid Scott with the berserker attack or she could stay right in the vault, right next to Peter where she knew she belonged.

"Derek gave up on it back when he learned another way to control the shift. When I taught him, I taught him to use emotion, to use anger and to focus on it, to feel every ounce of rage and hatred that he could summon. It was the anger that taught him control."

"Hang on. Stop talking. She needs to pay!" Sydney broke in and rolled her shoulders back, bringing her canines to sharp points. "You can't seriously be telling her this right now!"

Sydney watched as Kate began to circle them. It wasn't even a few seconds later when Peter matched her movements. Sydney remained standing still and simply watched them facing off. She wasn't going to let Peter get to Kate, she was going to do it herself, she was going to end her once and for all and she wasn't going to do it by clawing out her throat, no, Kate was going to die for good and Sydney was going to make sure of it.

"You shouldn't have brought her here." Kate purred and glanced at Sydney, who she clearly deemed as nothing more than a nuisance, a small obstacle standing in her way. She wasn't a threat, hell in Kate's eyes Sydney was practically an omega, a simple beta without a pack. "She doesn't stand a chance."

"I'll show you who doesn't stand a chance!" Sydney's voice boomed, bouncing off the hollow walls. She leaned forward, threw her head back and forced her alpha red irises to come to surface. Peter took a step back and glared at Sydney, who had just given up their entire element of surprise. Kate knew she was an alpha now, Kate knew what Sydney was capable of and she knew that she was no longer 'just a simple beta'. Yet she still didn't seem threatened by her presence.

"Oh look at you. Where'd you get those?" Kate taunted, referring to her eyes, and Sydney stalked forward, readying herself for a battle.

"I don't think that really matters." Sydney countered and tried to take another step forward. Peter rolled his eyes at Sydney and quickly stepped in front of her, forcing her to stand down for the time being.

"I do miss your beta blues though, shame what that meant for you." Kate continued to speak and Sydney felt her muscles tightening with rage, her mind was reeling and the anger that she had kept bottled up for years was slowly rising to the surface.

"You don't know me! You'll never get to know me!" Sydney shrieked and lunged forward. Peter's arms wrapped around her waist and hauled her off her feet, holding her back as she squirmed in his hold, desperate to get at the former hunter. Kate watched with a smug smirk as Peter manhandled the female alpha as though she were nothing more than a ragdoll.

"I just wanted to learn to control it. Had I know you were an alpha now I might have made other plans." Kate cackled and Sydney snarled at her, feeling her claws bursting out and taking the place of her blunt fingernails. "It's amazing really, I mean look at how far you've come."

_"_So you want to learn to control it?" Peter broke in and slowly peeled his arms away from Sydney. She seemed to take the hint and remained standing near him, her eyes following Kate's every move while her body remained tense, ready for an attack.

Sydney dropped to a slight crouch and growled loudly at the woman in front of her. She was anticipating a skirmish, she knew by the smell wafting off Peter that he was preparing to go right for her. They could take her. There was two of them and only one of her. She had no idea how to totally control her shifting, she didn't stand a chance, plus Sydney was an alpha, a pretty powerful one at that, she wasn't scared, not of Kate anyways.

"I will end you!" Sydney's voice rumbled with her threatening words.

"You want to get angry, Kate? Let's get angry!"

Sydney was taken aback for a few seconds. It wasn't something that she got to see very often but when Peter shifted, even if it was just partially, she knew that it was going to be amazing. Her alpha reds flickered brighter than ever and when she caught sight of Peter's face, she took note that his bright blue eyes were glowing in the dimly lit vault.

His claws came out as he threw his arms to the side and he bared his teeth, which were sharper, longer, and deadlier than normal. Sydney didn't hesitate a second longer before she lunged at Kate, who had somehow managed to control her shifting enough to force her own razor sharp teeth to come out.

Sydney didn't get to actually hit her; she didn't land any punches or anything at all because before she could connect, a clinking sound, metal hitting concrete, echoed throughout the vault. Sydney froze and was reduced to watching in horror as the flash bombs erupted, blinding her temporarily.

It wasn't until a pair of arms wrapped around her waist that she moved again and when she was hauled to the floor, the figure that had grabbed her, tucking her against their chest, that's when she realized what kind of seriously dangerous situation they were in.

She took a deep breath and relaxed slightly as she recognized the scent belonging to the person who had brought her to the ground in a desperate attempt to protect her from the blast. Peter had hugged her against him, shielding her with his body and trying to protect her from any serious damage that the bombs might have caused. She curled against his body, pressing her face into his chest, and felt her wolf inside of her fading away. There were bigger things to worry about now; it wasn't just Kate that posed an issue.

Peter's grip on her tightened and she managed to get her arms around his torso, holding onto him for dear life. Suddenly their battle against Kate seemed like the _least_ of their worries. Sydney pulled her face away from his chest just long enough to take a deep breath and instantly regretted it. Smoke filled her lungs and she found herself choking as her air supply was practically cut off.

Peter struggled to keep her tight against him as she started to freak out, her body shaking in his hold, her heartbeat picking up in pace as the panic set in. He knew that the smoke would clear up soon enough and then she'd be okay, he just had to make sure she knew it, he had to make sure she understood that. The pain was only temporary.

Sydney relaxed the slightest bit as his fingers pressed into the skin on her sides. He squirmed and wiggled until she was practically underneath him and that's when he went completely still. They were reduced to waiting, anxious and afraid of the unknown, Sydney struggling to breath easily and Peter struggling to get a clear sight of the new enemy.

Sydney just barely caught the sound of Kate choking too and then her scurrying footsteps as she climbed the stairs quickly, making her escape before she encountered someone, or something, that she wouldn't be able to handle. Well at least Kate was out of sight, although if they hadn't been attacked, Sydney would have ripped her face off, shredded her body until there was nothing left. Kate needed to feel pain; she needed to know that she wasn't going to get away with what she had done without feeling immense agony. She needed to be punished.

Seconds, maybe even minutes, later, Peter rolled them over so that he was on his back, still holding on to her. Sydney ran her hands up his chest and gently pushed her body away from his, looking down at him as she sucked in breaths of air, filling her lungs and feeling the sweet relief from the burning sensation she had been experiencing seconds before.

He made his way onto his side, grabbed Sydney's shoulder and hauled her behind him as he watched the large figure dressed in black from head to toe move towards something inside the vault. She clung to him, her hands wrapped around his bicep as she tried to draw out his pain, to stop him from hurting, but it didn't matter. Whatever the figure wanted it wasn't Peter and it wasn't Sydney, the two of them were safe, at least for the time being.

Loud, distinctive footsteps filled the air and Sydney watched, frozen, as the stranger closed in on a box, a box that had been shut when she first arrived. The stranger pulled out what she could only call a briefcase before slowly, carefully, confidently walking back towards the stairs that would lead to the outside.

"Wait!" Peter called out, a hint of desperation to his tone. "Wait!"

Sydney tried to get to her feet but she felt her legs give out before her entire body collapsed to the ground. She stumbled to a sitting position and managed to make her way to her knees but she remained behind Peter as he called to the figure, begging for it to wait. With her last ounce of strength, she clambered to her feet and bent over, pressing her fingertips against the cold, hard floor.

Sydney slowly moved forward, just barely making it over top of Peter, as she tried to go after whoever had just blitz attacked them. She didn't get her foot up high enough and caught her toe on Peter's hip, sending her entire body forward as her palms collided with the floor. She let out a grunt of pain from the force and started to claw desperately at the smooth surface below her but Peter's fingers wrapped around her ankle and held her back.

Her eyes locked on his and she knew that it was no use. She'd never make it to the stairs without falling again which meant that she'd never catch up to the stranger. She couldn't stop them, no one could stop them. She dropped her body to the floor and ran her hand along Peter's side, gently helping him into a sitting position. He maneuvered his arm around her shoulders and clung to her.

"Come on." She urged and struggled to get to her knees. She slipped her arms around Peter's abdomen and hung on to him as she managed to get to her feet. Peter followed her lead and the two of them stumbled slightly but didn't fall down.

"Wait." Peter hissed and turned his attention to the open box that the stranger had focused on. He reached his hand out towards it and Sydney began walking in that direction. Her feet barely made it off the ground but together they closed the small distance to the lock box.

She cautiously lowered herself to the floor and dropped to her butt as Peter squatted in front of the now empty box. He carefully set his knees down on the floor, one at a time, and stared at the empty inside longingly. Whatever had been in that briefcase had meant a lot to him.

At the sound of frantic footsteps coming from the stairs, Sydney whipped her head around and watched. She let out a groan at the quick movement but couldn't help feeling slightly relieved as Lydia and Stiles, unhurt and moving with ease, closed in on them. At least Stiles had managed to stay out of the danger that had been lurking around the school.

"It was never...never about the Triskelion." Peter mumbled and Sydney rested her hand on his back in a soothing gesture. She wasn't entirely sure who he was talking to but when she looked up at him, she knew that whatever had just happened wasn't good. "They took it; they took it while I was blinded."

"Took what?" Lydia's voice, almost calm and reassuring to Sydney's ears, was able to get the question out into the open better than her own. She let out a cough and swallowed the thick, choking feeling in her own throat.

"Bonds. Bearer bonds and they took them all." Peter answered and Sydney's eyes widened at his admission. He made his way to his feet and turned to face Stiles and Lydia. Sydney grabbed at his arm and he took her hand in his, lifting her up to stand next to him.

She had always known that the Hale family wasn't struggling to pay their bills and she figured that there had to be some sort of cash settlement laying around from the fire, from the deaths that went along with it, but she hadn't imagined that they'd be lying around in some underground vault beneath the high school.

"Bearer bonds? Hold on. Are you saying you got robbed?" Stiles questioned, a hint of amusement toying on his tone. Leave it to Stiles to find the humour in Peter's dire situation.

"This was a heist. Somebody planned this."

Sydney leaned against him and tried to comfort him. It was an insult, to be robbed, to have been thought of as an easy target and then for whoever robbed them to get away with the bonds. She dropped her head against his shoulder and lowered her voice.

"It's okay, we'll figure this out." Sydney murmured.

"How much did they take?" Lydia asked, brushing off Sydney's words. She was clearly more interested in the money than what had just happened inside the vault.

"117..." Peter answered and let the number hang in the air.

Sydney flinched at the amount. She knew it wasn't going to be small but that seemed like a potentially large number.

"Thousand?" Stiles shot out and Sydney flinched. Nope, no it had to be way more than that; one hundred and seventeen thousand wasn't going to cause Peter to become this anxious, this upset.

"Million."

She looked longingly at the empty box and hung on to Peter's hand tighter. She didn't need supernatural abilities to conclude that he was pissed beyond belief. Sydney just held on to him, at this point in time, she wasn't entirely sure what else she could do.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_I appreciate everyone who has viewed this story, read the chapters and added it to their favourite/alerts! You guys are truly amazing. _**

**_poorxbrok_****_excollegexkid: Hey if you like Syd and Malia interacting, here's some more :) Sydney and Malia would make a great team if they could just get over their differences!_**

**_LirealAion: I just love hearing what your favourite parts are! _**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? Peter trying to protect Sydney, do you think he did it because he loves her because she's a valuable asset? Again, if you've got any favourite parts, I'd love to hear what they were! _**

**_If you have any questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 6****:**

Sydney was exhausted, and hungry, by the time Peter had gotten up off the ground and decided that they could, in fact, head home. She still liked the sound of that: home. She hadn't really had a home since her grandparents had died. She hadn't found anywhere that she felt like she belonged, at least not until she knocked on Peter's door that fateful night.

They had come a long way since then. She knew that even though he generally had ulterior motives, he honestly cared about her. If he didn't care then he would've just let her die when she had been speared through her abdomen by an Oni sword. If he didn't care then he would've kept his alpha spark and continued to live life without her, much like he had been doing since before she barged in on his life. Yes, there were a few more reasons why Sydney felt reassured that Peter actually cared about her and she wasn't going to give him up, not for anything.

It had broken her heart to hear him sound so defeated, so cheated out of all the money inside the vault. She should've considered the situation in a different light. Someone was clearly out for his family's vault long before they hunted Kate's hiding place down in Mexico. It was too late now though, whoever had set off the flash bombs and stolen the money was long gone and there wasn't much that Sydney could do about it.

She found herself heading straight for the kitchen once they had arrived _home_ and she knew that at the very least, she could make her and Peter something decent to eat. She was a good cook, her grandma had taught her that valuable skill and that was one of the few things she was thankful for.

Wrapping her hand around the handle to the fridge, she pulled the door open slowly and studied the contents inside. There wasn't a whole lot of things that she could work with but at the very least she could throw together a decent breakfast. There was nothing better to eat late at night then breakfast food.

Sydney leaned down and took four eggs out of the open plastic container and put them into her hands. As she cradled them against her body she moved towards the stove and gently set them on the counter next to it. She opened the bottom drawer on the oven and pulled out a frying pan before setting it on the burner. Sydney headed right back to the fridge so that she could haul out the margarine, the package of bacon from the meat drawer and a jar of jam.

"Peter?" She called out to him, rather unconcerned with his whereabouts inside the apartment. She figured he had headed into either the bedroom or bathroom to clean up and change. He wasn't too far away, she could smell him easily.

"What?" His voice came back at her and she didn't need more than that one word to deduce that he was angry, _still_ angry over the theft of the Bearer Bonds, which she couldn't exactly blame him for. It was a large amount of money. Hell she had nowhere near that much money tucked away and she'd be angry if anyone even tried to steal _any_ of it. Peter definitely had a reason to be angry.

"You hungry?"

Sydney moseyed around the kitchen with a butter knife in her hand. She came to a stop next to the stove and, using the knife tucked in her fingers, she scraped a bit of margarine out of the container and plopped it into the frying pan, turning on the burner seconds later. Still no reply from Peter, even as she cracked two eggs and let them fall against the hot bottom of the frying pan.

While the eggs cooked, she stepped to the side and pulled open the drawer containing the cooking utensils, taking hold of the plastic flipper and setting it on the counter next to the stove.

"Peter I asked you a question!" She shouted at him, a little more snark to her tone, hoping that he'd reply this time.

"I'm sorry but there are a few things that are a little more important than your desire to eat." He shot back and Sydney winced at his tone, not because she was afraid of him but because she knew that tone meant that he was going to be difficult. All she was really trying to do was make him feel slightly better; surely he had to be hungry.

So maybe food wasn't a top priority to him but she was starving. She hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning and even that had been nothing more than a toasted bologna sandwich, which wasn't very filling at all, not considering all of the physical activity she hadn't been anticipating.

"Come here!" Sydney called and took a gentle hold of the bag containing the loaf of bread. She popped the clip off and reached in, bypassing the end piece, to take hold of two pieces of bread before putting them in the toaster and pushing the button down. With a quick glance at her eggs, which were nearly done, she secured the loaf of bread in the bag and set it back where it belonged.

Seconds later, Peter came sauntering out of the bedroom in a fresh pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt. She had known the man for quite a while now and yet he always seemed to where either dark, bland colours or white. There were no red shirts in his closet that she could find, no bright blues, certainly no pinks but the man had to have something a little brighter than white, gray, brown, green and black, didn't he?

"What?" He leveled his eyes on her and she scrunched up her face at his sour mood.

"How can you not be hungry?" She asked and moved her hands up towards the cupboard, grabbing the handle, opening it, taking a plate out and letting it slam shut as she set the plate on the counter. He didn't answer yet; instead he watched her in awe as she slid the flipper under the eggs and carefully lifted them from the pan and then placing them on the plate. "I can cook this bacon if you want."

"Sydney I'm not-"

"In the mood, I get it but you should probably eat something." She looked at him, a pleading expression on her face. "I know it sucks but come on, we'll figure it out, I'm sure we can get it back."

Peter fought back the urge to scoff at her naivety. Life didn't always work out that way, especially not for him. He was already starting to doubt that getting the bonds back would be easy, hell he wasn't even sure where to start at this point and for her to so blindly assume that they would 'figure it out', well that didn't help his foul mood one bit. Even if they did manage to get them back, it didn't necessarily mean they'd get them _all_ back.

"You can't possibly believe that." He spat at her and she grabbed the edge of the plate before turning to the island. Peter slowly dropped down to sit on one of the stools located there and she gently set the plate down, sliding it across to come to rest in front of him.

Okay, maybe he _was_ hungry. The eggs looked delicious and at the sight of them, his stomach growled as though it was anticipating the scrumptious looking start to his meal, which consisted of foods that were often consumed at breakfast.

Before Peter could object and push the plate away, Sydney came back to him and reached across the island, setting the two pieces of toast on the counter top next to his plate, the jar of jam coming to a stop right beside them.

"I know you're mad, I get it, but there's nothing we can do about it now, right? You might as well eat because I already have two more eggs cooking in the pan." She offered up with a small smile. Peter sighed in response but took a piece of toast in his hand. Sydney turned away from him, dug into the silverware drawer and produced a fork and knife. She handed him the utensils with a chuckle. "Grandma always said that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach."

"Now's not the time for your-"

"Just eat your breakfast." Sydney cut him off with a chuckle and turned her attention back to the eggs that were still cooking up in the pan. She took a few seconds and moved the package of bacon back into the fridge before getting two more pieces of bread out of the bag and putting them into the toaster.

Minutes later she was sitting next to Peter with her own eggs and toast, watching as he spread jam across his toast with the knife she had grabbed for him. Sydney poked at the yolks of her eggs and let out a giggle as they exploded: yellow, runny yolk oozed out all over her plate.

Peter shook his head at her but couldn't help the smile spreading across his face as she dipped her very own toast into the bright yellow liquid. She quickly devoured the one piece of toast before poking at the cooked whites of her eggs with her fork. Peter watched her hesitantly, sensing her unease as she broke a piece off and stuffed it in her mouth. When she finished her mouthful, she turned her head and looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed as she debated what she wanted to say to him.

"So," Sydney paused and leaned towards him, nudging him with her shoulder, "you have a secret family vault. That's new."

"It's not actually new."

"Okay well it's new to me. Why do you have a secret family vault?" She locked her eyes on him and grabbed hold of her other piece of toast. Peter took a piece of egg onto his fork and ate it. When he was finished chewing, he swallowed it and nodded at her.

"I guess it's not really a secret anymore but before the fire, ever since I can remember, my family has always had that vault."

"It's a nice vault; really, in fact it's so nice that I'm sitting here left wondering why you're not living in it." Sydney stated, sarcasm lacing her tone. Peter knew why she was upset, hell, he had kept yet another secret from her and after the whole Nogitsune debacle she was probably figuring that he'd be more open, more honest about his life before she walked into it, apparently that was not what had happened.

"It's a vault Sydney." Peter shot back and she shrugged at him, finishing the first egg on her plate. She had devoured most of her second piece of toast before turning her butt on the stool to face him.

"Well if you don't want to talk about the vault itself, you could talk about the hundred and seventeen million you had in bonds." She smirked. "I mean I knew you Hales were loaded but come on, that's not something you should keep from your lover."

"Would it change how you feel about me?" He countered and quickly scarfed down his remaining egg. Sydney slid her plate, still with one more egg on it, towards him and he immediately speared it with his fork.

"Nothing would change how I feel about you." She said softly and leaned towards him, moving her palm so that it was resting on his thigh. "I love you and, money or not, that won't change."

"We still need to get it back."

"Oh, I know. It's nice to think that I'm the sugar mama in this relationship now though." She smiled at him and he shook his head at her statement. "Come on Peter, whether or not you have millions doesn't matter to me. You and I will always be together. Now if you try to trade me off to _another_ dark spirit, I may have to reconsider this whole relationship but I think we both learned our lesson on that one."

"Yes." Peter nodded. "But the sex was great."

"Was?" She cocked her head to the side and moved her hand over the top of his leg and gave the inside of his thigh and gentle squeeze. "I think you mean '_is_'."

"But we're in the middle of breakfast." Peter cooed and she pulled her hand away from him.

Peter was reduced to watching as she gathered up the plates off the top of the island, as well as the remaining bits of food, and pranced across to the sink. She gently set the dirty dishes inside and turned back around to face him, a seductive smirk toying with her lips.

"I think it's time for dessert." Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked at him, her eyes flickered to red and Peter let out a growl. She lifted a finger up and waggled it at him. "Let me be the alpha tonight."

Peter bit back yet another growl and Sydney reached downwards, unbuttoning her jeans. She pushed them over her hips and stepped out of them, leaving her pants on the kitchen floor. Peter watched her with a curious expression as she ran her hands over her hips and grabbed hold of the bottom hem of her t-shirt before she freed her body of that garment too.

"Your turn." She purred and slowly stepped towards him.

Peter's eyes never left hers as Sydney closed the distance between her and the island. When she got close enough, she dropped her elbows down onto the surface and placed her chin in her hands giving him a nearly perfect view of her amazing cleavage.

"Is this one of your-"

"Seriously you suck at foreplay." She cut him off and pushed herself away from him.

Sydney grinned devilishly at him before sauntering around the island and slowly heading for the bedroom, making sure to add a little bit of extra swing to her hips so that he knew she meant business.

"I don't suck at foreplay." Peter stumbled over his words and when she glanced back at him, she grinned.

"Come on Peter, let me be your alpha tonight." She purred and stepped inside the doorframe to the bedroom. She gave her hips a little wiggle and Peter hopped down from the stool, crossing the room in record time as he came up behind her, pressing his chest to her nearly bare back as his arm banded around her middle.

"I'll deny it if it ever comes up but you as my alpha is quite the turn on."

"So what are you going to do about it?" She challenged him and gripped his hand that was residing on her side. She slid it downwards, catching his thumb on the skimpy waistband of her panties. "You're not going to make me take care of myself, are you?"

His hand moved lower and she let out a breathy moan, the all too familiar feeling of excitement settling in the pit of her stomach.

"You _will_ be the death of me." He hissed, his lips right next to her ear. "I'm not sure that I like it."

"Then punish me like that bad girl that I am." She moaned and freed herself from his grasp.

Sydney climbed onto the bed and kneeled at the end of it. Peter stripped off his shirt and closed the distance between them, Sydney slipping her arms around his neck when he was within her reach.

"You're _mine_; maybe we should start with me reminding you of that."

Her eyes widened at his words and her lips parted but when Peter leaned down towards her, he completely bypassed her mouth, her whole face. His teeth, which had shifted to his razor sharp canines, pierced the skin on the side of her neck and she felt her entire body turn to mush, her grip on his neck tightening as he bit into her flesh, reclaiming what was already his.

"I'm yours." She moaned and he pulled his teeth free from her skin. "But you're mine too."

Sydney sunk her own teeth into Peter's shoulder. With a sharp intake of breath, Sydney knew that she had caught him off guard. He wasn't expecting her to dish it right back out and she had certainly surprised him.

"Always." He breathed the word out and found himself wondering if maybe this was what true bliss felt like.

What he did know for sure was that Sydney could still surprise him. Even after a bad day she knew how to make him feel better, even if she had been through as much as she had, even though she had every reason to give up, she always kept going, she always made sure he knew that she was content with him and that was one thing he'd never take for granted. It had been quite the struggle for her to get this far but if anyone could have done it; Peter had total faith that it would have been Sydney. She would never cease to amaze him.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

When she opened her eyes early the next morning, Sydney curled up closer to Peter and tucked her naked body under the covers further. There was a chill in the room and she brought her body into a tight ball, rolling over so that she faced Peter now. His grip on her tightened and she snuggled up against him, feeling the warmth radiating off his body and basking in the safe and secure feeling that his hold provided.

"Good morning." Peter murmured and pressed his lips to her forehead, letting her get comfortable next to him. She let out a yawn and lifted her hand up, resting it against the side of his neck, running her thumb along his skin in a gentle motion.

"Can I ask you something?" Sydney asked in response, her voice low and filled with a sense of nervousness.

"Always." Peter nodded cautiously and watched as she visibly tensed in his embrace. She popped both arms out from under covers, rolled over to the edge of the mattress and grabbed his t-shirt off the floor next to the bed. Before Peter could object, she had the garment over her head and covering the top half, and part of the bottom half, of her body.

Sydney squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her hands over her face, another yawn escaping her. When she opened her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, Peter was making his way into a sitting position, his arm up and motioning for her to move back to him. Sydney crawled across the space between them and snuggled up against his side, his arm dropping down to drape over her shoulders.

"What do you think of Malia?" Sydney's voice was soft and careful, as though by asking him he might grow angry and she did not want to deal with angry Peter, not today anyways. Things were too good at that moment.

He could sense that she was a little uneasy, the prospect of him trying to form a relationship with the young girl clearly didn't sit right with her and he knew that she was scared that he'd leave her behind in order to build up his family, or at least what was left of it. How could he possibly forget Sydney though? She was an alpha, his alpha, and she had gotten to that point on her own. She wasn't some weak minded beta that he could control, not anymore, and she had proved that, time and time again. She was a leader and whether she knew it or not, she'd make an amazing alpha to her very own pack one day.

"What do _you_ think of her?" Peter countered and Sydney pressed her lips together. He knew that she was bothered by the fact that he had a child and she had expressed that in an obvious fashion when she walked out of the loft shortly after he found out for himself but apparently her anxiety was still very present. Peter was unsure how to handle the entire situation. He didn't know what _he _wanted from Malia after learning of her existence, which meant that he couldn't even begin to imagine the unease surrounding Sydney and her thoughts on the girl's existence.

"I think that if she was anyone else's kid that I'd want her in my pack." Sydney confessed, her voice lacking any sort of conviction.

"Interesting."

"She's got quite the sass too. She has a mouth on her." Sydney pointed out. "I mean, it's very obvious that no one has told her that _you're_ her father."

"I noticed."

"She could definitely be _your_ daughter."

"She certainly could." Peter agreed in a low tone.

"At the same time though, she kind of reminds me of me." Sydney nodded hesitantly. "I think she could grow up to be an amazing woman but I don't want her to grow up with you."

"That's rather harsh, don't you think?" He smirked at her and Sydney let out a huge groan before dropping her forehead against his shoulder. She hadn't meant it to come out as vicious as it had; she merely meant that she didn't want to have to split Peter's attention with anyone else.

"Maybe but you're mine and I don't like sharing."

"Your grandmother didn't do a very good job at teaching you the common lessons associated with being a child."

"Hey fuck you." She growled. "I think I'm entitled to be a little greedy after the shit I've been through okay. You're mine, leave her alone and we'll be fine."

Peter let out a smug chuckle and Sydney bared her teeth, running them along the skin of his shoulder. He didn't tense, he didn't flinch and when her canines broke through, producing blood from the puncture holes, he reached his hand up and tangled his fingers in her hair, tugging her head back and away from his bleeding skin.

"I can't promise you that." He purred and leaned down. She pulled her teeth further away from his shoulder and looked up at him with her bright brown eyes. "I can promise you that no matter what happens, I'll always be by your side."

"Promise that you won't trade me off to some dark spirit _again_ and we'll call it a deal." She smirked. "Come on, we're wasting daylight."

"Wasting daylight, do you have-"

"I can make breakfast, maybe we can go see Derek and make sure he's okay?"

"You're planning things now?"

"Well, I just thought it might be a good thing to do, he went through a lot and he's still my best friend. Maybe he knows things about Kate that I don't, actually I can guarantee that he knows things about Kate that I don't."

"A phone call won't suffice?"

Sydney's eyes widened at his question. She hadn't been expecting much resistance from him but there was clearly something on his mind and she was figuring out slowly that he was more concerned about the loss of the Bearer bonds than the well-being of his very own nephew, one of the few remaining family members that he had left.

"Okay, I'll call him." Sydney mumbled. "I need a shower though, all that running last night make me icky."

"Icky?"

"You shouldn't complain, you're included in this shower deal." She beamed and ran her fingertips down his arm, taking his hand in hers.

Her let her weave her fingers with his and shifted to the side as she moved away from the pillows. When she made her way to her feet, she let go of his hand and peeled the shirt off, standing in front of him and letting him see her in all her glory. His eyes scanned over every inch of her body and when he finally stopped, his eyes locking with hers, she tilted her head to the side.

"You're perfection."

"So I've been told." She replied sarcastically, mentally recalling many of the other times he had stopped to study her before making a very similar remark.

Peter stepped around her, his fingers gently trailing over her shoulders, drumming against her shoulder blades. Sydney turned her head, following him as he circled her, his hand roaming over her skin. She felt the heat of his palm as he paused on her hip and gripped her roughly, his fingernails biting into her skin.

"Infuriating." He murmured and placed a gently kiss to the side of her neck. Sydney reached her own hand up and ran her fingers over his scalp, holding his head in place as he slowly moved down her neck, over her shoulders and across her back.

"I've been told that before too." She purred and tipped her head back, slowly letting go of her gentle hold on his hair. He ducked down further, trailing kisses between her shoulders. She felt her legs turning to liquid; his lips continued moving down, over her spine, around to her side before he started trailing kisses back up her body.

She lifted her arm into the air and shivered as his lips brushed against the skin of her bicep, his hand taking hold of hers and bending it, placing her palm on the back of his head. She felt the familiar heat spreading through her body; the butterflies were flying around inside her belly, eagerly fluttering about with anticipation.

"So beautiful." He whispered and pressed a kiss to the skin just under her ear.

"Oh god." She moaned. "Either fuck me or stop, please!"

"I do believe you mentioned a shower."

Sydney raised her eyebrow as he quickly stepped away from her, leading the way out of the bedroom. She hesitated for all of two seconds before taking off after him, stopping only when her chest pressed against his back, her teeth grazing the skin of his shoulders.

If his plan was to make her forget Malia for the time being, well, it was definitely working.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_I hope that anyone reading this is still enjoying it! I must thank you all for continuing to follow and support 'The Wolf You Feed' so thank you, a million times over._**

**_nerina2401: Well thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy!_**

**_poorxbrok_****_excollegexkid: Thanks for taking the time out of your busy note taking time to leave me a few words!_**

**_Psycho17: Sydney's going to have a hard time accepting anyone new really but I think maybe she'll eventually come to see Malia as more of an ally and less of her competition. Sydney and Peter are certainly an interesting pair... Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: I am back lol and Sydney and Peter too! I think you'll like where Sydney and Liam's relationship goes, she's definitely going to take a liking to him. _**

**_LirealAion: Malia and Syd, it's a good thought, they'd make a pretty amazing team, if Sydney could just get over the fact that she's related to Peter. Kate should probably watch her back though, Sydney won't be showing her any mercy when it comes down to it. _**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? Again, if you've got any favourite parts, I'd love to hear what they were! _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	7. Chapter 7

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 7:**

Stiles' house was quiet, almost too quiet. It was times like these that he was thankful he didn't have supersonic hearing because Stiles wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to handle all the extra sounds that would come from the environment around him. He crept into the house and kept his eyes open, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

To say that he was constantly uneasy would be an understatement. Ever since the nogitsune possession, Stiles had been forever wary of his surroundings. He hated what had happened to him, hated that something could so easily bury itself in his mind and take control. As much as he had enjoyed the power that had gone along with being possessed, there was one thing that he knew for certain: he definitely didn't want to have to go through anything like that again.

They had lost too many people because of him. Allison was gone, never forgotten, but gone and he laid the blame on himself. She wasn't coming back; she wasn't going to be resurrected like Peter, or Kate. Allison was dead and there was nothing anyone could do.

The pain, the chaos that Stiles had caused had nearly broken him but he had made it through. No doubt that Sydney had played a part in that, she had stuck by him, when he was possessed even, and had protected him as best as she could have. He still remembered watching through the nogitsune's eyes as the sword of the Oni pierced through her abdomen in much the same way as Allison had died, only Sydney had survived but just barely.

Things were different now. He was glad that he had Malia in his life, he was glad that Sydney had survived but there were things that he regretted being a part of. Allison didn't deserve what she had gotten, she had always tried to help them, to be a leader when they needed one and Stiles would never forget what she had always done for Scott.

It was over for her now. She was only alive in their memories and everything was different. Stiles let out a sigh at the memory of what had happened to his friends and their families. Not only was Allison gone but Beacon Hills was lacking a few werewolves now too. Isaac had left them to go to France, the twins were nowhere to be seen, although the rumour going around town was that they were headed to Colorado. Hell even Chris Argent had disappeared for a while, but to Stiles, that made the most sense. He had lost so much already and for him to lose the only child he had left, the man deserved some time to grieve alone.

Wandering closer to the kitchen, Stiles glanced up at the ceiling and took in a deep breath, trying to get his thoughts together. He could play the 'what if' game forever but it all came down to one thing; what if Scott had never been bitten.

As he stepped into the kitchen, Stiles caught sight of the case files that belonged to the sheriff's station, strewn out over the table. There were a couple boxes on the floor, one was completely full, and the other one was half empty.

Stiles wasn't entirely sure how his father was going to feel about him being in the same room as the stack of unsolved case files but if the sheriff was angry about it, he didn't show it, in fact, Stiles' father seemed almost too engrossed in a small stack of potentially supernatural related unsolved case files when he entered the room that he barely noticed Stiles at all. Stiles took a seat across from his dad and watched as the older Stilinski flipped through the contents of an old, weathered file, his father's gaze flickering up to land on his very own son.

"Stiles what have I told you-"

"I just came to see what you were up to dad. You do know what time it is, don't you?"

The sheriff glanced around the room before lifting his wrist up and looking at his watch. Okay so he hadn't figured he had been working that long but it was closing in on midnight and Sheriff Stilinski had completely bypassed dinner, maybe a little visit from Stiles was in order, at least then he could take a few minutes and get his head on straight.

"I guess I just got caught up in these old cases." The sheriff sighed and dropped the file that he was holding in his hands to the table, one of the photographs slipping out the side. Stiles twisted his head in a desperate attempt to get a better look at the photo and when he finally locked his eyes on the little girl forever encapsulated inside the picture, his eyes widened the slightest little bit in recognition.

The years had been kind to Sydney and there was no doubt in Stiles' mind that the youngster in the photograph was the female alpha that he had grown to know and care about, yes, this photo was of Sydney, it had to be, but why, what unsolved case was she involved with? Had she done something very similar to what Malia had done, maybe attacked an innocent person after losing control? Stiles recalled that she had mentioned killing a male when he 'tried to get fresh' with her, it was the reason her eyes were blue, but this picture was of a little girl, surely this case was unrelated to the information she had given him previously.

Stiles clambered to his feet and stretched his arm out, reaching across the surface before grabbing for the picture. The sheriff, who had been watching him carefully, took notice of what Stiles was trying to do and quickly yanked the file just out of his reach, squandering Stiles' attempt to get his grubby little paws on the photo.

"But dad-"

"Nope, not happening, not tonight-"

"I think I know her." Stiles cut him off and the sheriff's face fell. Stiles' father flipped the cover of the file open and let out another deep sigh. The sheriff read over the small box of information on the front of the file: the girl in the photo would be around twenty-five currently and the first immediate thought that came to the sheriff's mind was 'why on earth would a teenager know a twenty-five year old woman'?

"Sydney Vance, you're telling me that you know Sydney Vance? Do you know her personally?"

"Vance, huh, so that's her last name." Stiles hummed but when he looked back at his dad, he tried to remain focused on the task at hand. "Yeah, yeah I know her. She's uh, she's the one who was in Derek's loft when you showed up with the Argents."

"And Derek Hale?"

"Yeah, Sydney's his best friend; actually she's one of my friends now too." Stiles admitted proudly. Yes, he didn't mind knowing the female at all. "She's an alpha."

"An alpha…so she's a werewolf? Is she part of Derek Hale's pack? Or, wait, she's part of Scott's pack maybe?"

"She's definitely not part of Scott's pack and I don't think she's in Derek's circle much. She's kind of on her own, I mean, she was working with Peter Hale when I first met her."

"Peter Hale?" The sheriff repeated the last name Stiles had mentioned. "She was working with Peter Hale? The same Peter Hale that-"

"Yeah, the one that was in a coma for six years, the _same_ Peter Hale that was burned alive in the basement of the Hale house. That would be the one."

"Wait. Hang on a second." The sheriff raised his hand in a motion to cease all conversation now. "You're telling me that you're _friends_ with an alpha female werewolf?"

Stiles' jaw dropped open at his father's question. First of all, the sheriff was more concerned with Stiles and his friends rather than Sydney being involved with the psychotic Peter Hale? Was that fair at all and where did his dad's priorities lie?

It wasn't that hard to believe though, was it, that he was friends with an alpha werewolf, one that was, in fact, a female? Sydney wasn't just any normal girl, yes she was gorgeous and she was every man's dream, including Stiles', but that didn't mean she was anything out of Stiles' reach, especially if they were merely just friends. Sydney had, on more than one occasion, expressed interest in Batman, which meant that she had knowledge of superheroes, something Stiles could relate too. He didn't peg her as the type of girl to be a 'Lydia Martin' in high school, although he figured she would have had guys falling at her feet nonetheless. She wasn't a girly girl by any means, she was easy to get along with, she was highly intelligent _and_ she didn't back down from anything.

She was definitely Stiles' ideal woman, but did that really warrant his father's disbelief that Stiles actually _knew_ a woman of Sydney's caliber?

"Yeah dad, yeah I am. Is that _really _so hard to believe?"

"No I just…" The sheriff shook his head as he slowly digested the information. Not only was his son friends with a werewolf his own age but now he had admitted to knowing an older, female alpha as well. "Did she ever tell you about her parents?"

"No dad. She uh, she mentioned her grandma once or twice but I didn't think too much of it, I just, I don't know, I didn't concern myself with it. Why, what happened to her parents?"

The sheriff sucked in a breath and flipped through the papers in the file. He stopped after a few pages and turned the whole package around, sliding it across the surface of the table and passing it to Stiles. The younger Stilinski took hold of the confidential case file and pulled it towards him, his eyes studying the photograph that his dad had flipped too.

The picture had been taken inside of a room, presumably a kitchen, and there were very clear, very horrendous bloodstains on the wall, the crimson liquid dripping down to the floor and pooling on the tile floor below, leaving dark streaks on the wall. Stiles spotted the crime scene evidence numbers within the photograph, as well as a few white and black rulers that would be used later on to determine the size of the bloodstains and blood spatter. His mouth dropped open and he ran his finger along the edge of the crime scene photo before tearing his eyes away and meeting his father's intense gaze.

"Her parents were murdered; to this day it's unsolved, although now that you've gone and mentioned that she's a werewolf, there might be more to it that we just didn't pick up on."

"Murdered? Dad, this is a bloodbath. How can you even consider this a murder? Someone out there had it in for her family, who's to say that she's not next? Dad, you have to do something, you can't just let this one go!"

"Well for starters, would the term slaughter make more sense?" The sheriff countered and reached for the file, Stiles slipped it out of his grasp and turned the photos over until he landed on the one that had caught his eye. "Stiles I'm doing the best that I can with what I've got. It's been nearly fifteen years since, well, since her parents were killed. Whoever did this was careful not to leave anything in terms of evidence and I can't just claim that werewolves had a part in this."

"So then maybe it was hunters?" Stiles offered. "Maybe Chris Argent knows about it, maybe his family had something to do with it. Dad, you have to catch whoever did this, dad please."

Stiles looked down at the picture that had caught his attention to start with. There was no doubt in his mind that the little girl in the picture, with her head turned to the side and her eyes shut, was Sydney when she was little. The brown hair, the flawless face, even the slightly blurred smile matched that of the alpha's. The girl in the picture was the girl he knew now, only Stiles had found out about her past, about her family and why she turned out the way she had.

It made sense, at least more so than before. Stiles could see why she'd choose to align herself with a psychopath like Peter Hale. He'd easily understand the type of pain associated with the loss of her family, he'd get how it felt to be left behind with nothing. Stiles couldn't fault her for having questionable taste in men but at least now he understood _why_ she had wound up with Peter.

"How old is she here?" Stiles questioned, his voice soft and filled with sadness, his index finger hovering just over the photograph.

"Ten."

"And is that when her parents were killed?"

"Yes, we had her in for questioning and then the Hales took her in until we got in contact with her grandparents. She was shipped out to Colorado a few weeks later. No arrests have been made."

"Dad, you have to solve this, you have to figure this one out." Stiles urged his father on. "You can't let her live the rest of her life without knowing who did this to her parents, or why for that matter."

"Stiles I'm doing my best-"

"Syd's special okay. When you were taken by the Darach she told me that she'd do whatever she could to keep something bad from happening to you. She didn't know you, she barely knew me but she told me that, she told me that she'd help me."

"Alright, I'll put her case at the top of the list."

"She needs to catch a break." Stiles murmured and slowly, carefully, handed the file folder back over to his dad. "She didn't deserve that."

"That's one thing that we can both agree on. Werewolf or not, no ten-year-old should ever have to go through what she did."

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney had called Derek shortly after getting out of the shower and the younger Hale had informed her that there wasn't much that she could do to help him. He was working on trying to figure out how to track down Kate and, after a promise to call her if he needed any help; he had said his goodbyes and hung up, leaving Sydney with the freedom to spend the rest of her day with Peter.

It had been an uneventful afternoon when it all came down to it. Peter had been at the kitchen island for most of the time scouring through books in an effort to figure out any advantages that Kate might have, her skill set, what she could ultimately become. Sydney had spent her afternoon curled up in front of the television watching reruns of old cartoons.

As the sun was dropping down from the sky, Sydney found herself on the couch in the living room, curled up in a ball in her short shorts and a t-shirt with a blanket over her. Her eyes were locked on the now blank screen of the television in front of her, there wasn't anything good on and since the sun was going down, she didn't feel as bad for wanting to nap. Peter was banging around in the kitchen, instead of sitting at the island, and from what he had announced a few minutes before, Sydney gathered he was preparing the kettle. Yes, he had informed her that he was making tea and that he'd make her a cup if she so desired.

She wasn't about to turn down an offer like that from Peter Hale. As much as she loved him, she knew that he didn't just offer to do things, no matter how small, unless he had an ulterior motive. She was fully expecting an interrogation from him once the cup of hot liquid was in her possession but she'd face that scenario when the time came. For now, she was trying to get warmer, something that seemed nearly impossible as the night dragged on.

She stared up at the ceiling and mentally tried to force the chill out of her body. She was cold, right down to the bones, and nothing, not more clothes, not the blanket she was currently under, not even Peter had seemed to help. Her eyes slipped away from the ceiling and landed on the window across the room, an eerie feeling of warmth now radiating through her body, but not a warmth that provided comfort, no, this was different, it almost felt as though it was hurting her, cooking her from the inside out.

The horrid, putrid smell hit her first and Sydney slowly moved her body away from the couch, rising up into a sitting position before quickly making her way to her feet. It was just an awful scent and even if she could just barely smell it, she knew that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

With swift, smooth movements, Sydney made her way to the window and pressed her forehead against the cool windowpane, the heat in her body rising as she did so. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep inhale in, trying to pinpoint why the smell was so familiar and why her innards felt like they were feeding a flame.

It smelled very faint and very much the same as when she had caught the scent seconds ago but she needed more, she needed to get a stronger scent. Sydney opened her eyes, brought her hand up and unlocked the window, sliding it open a few inches and taking yet another deep inhale.

She found herself coughing slightly at the pungent odour but she tried to focus her attention, forcing the thick, choking, putrid smell of burning to the back of her mind. There was something else there; some underlying scent and when it finally hit her, she swore her heart stopped beating in her chest.

"My house!" She screamed and pushed her body away from the window, almost tripping over her feet but she remained upright. She barely caught the look of concern etched on Peter's face before she ripped the front door of the apartment open, nearly tearing the thing off its hinges, and took off in a mad dash in the direction of her childhood home.

It wasn't easy to pick up on, hell if Sydney hadn't been to the scene of her parents slaughter in recent months she might not have even picked up on it at all but there was no mistaking it once she did, hidden in the bitter scent of fire was the smell of her parents' blood.

She had never run so fast in her life but it would prove to be useless. The thick, black smoke was already spilling out of what was left of her house, filling the air and Sydney knew before she even got to her parents' old house that there wouldn't be much left of it at all.

She darted through the streets; her bare feet making somewhat loud slapping noises against the concrete sidewalk. She didn't care, even as small pebbles threatened to pierce the skin on the bottoms of her feet, she surged forward, fighting off the cramping sensation in her stomach as she ran. Her lungs were burning now and she knew it wasn't just because she was inhaling thick, black smoke, no, she could feel her heart hammering against her chest and her eyes welling up with tears at the thought of her house being burned to the ground.

A few minutes later, and after the longest, most painful run of her life, Sydney closed in on her old house, the house that she had grown up in, the house where her parents had been slaughtered, the house which was all she had left of her old life in Beacon Hills.

There were fire trucks and deputy cruisers lining the street in front of her house and she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight. The firemen were working diligently on putting out the giant blaze but she had made it in time to witness the severity of the flames that were still licking at her house.

"No, no. Not my house, please!" She shrieked and Sydney wasn't even aware that there was anyone approaching her, she barely felt the arms wrap around her, she was only pulled out of her trance, and only for a second, when someone tried to haul her back, away from the still smoldering ashes of her once beautiful house.

"Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to step back."

Sydney struggled against the deputy's hold but she knew it was too late. She felt her eyes flicker red and she squeezed her eyes shut, desperate to keep her secret, to keep her anger at bay, at least until she was alone, away from the innocent humans that made up the sheriff's deputies.

"That's my god damn house!" She screamed and tried to break free from the deputy's grasp. She threw fists any way that she could but when the ground fell away from her feet, she broke out into a fit of heart wrenching sobs.

The deputy's grasp on her loosened and she dropped to her knees, the rough ground below scraping her skin. The man hanging onto her had dropped down with her, holding her, making sure she didn't suddenly decide to run into the flames.

She reached her arms out towards the fire, desperately trying to grab on to the last bit of hope. Maybe the entire house wouldn't be destroyed; maybe it would wind up like the Hale house where a few rooms had been virtually untouched by the flames. As the fire faded away, so did her belief that she'd have something left of the building that had once been her home, a happy place where she had grown up under her parents' watch.

"I'm sorry." The deputy whispered right into her ear and he tightened his grip on her, desperate to get her to calm down even the slightest little bit. He couldn't even begin to imagine the pain associated with having to witness a home be destroyed by fire.

Sydney's body collapsed to the ground and she had to blink a few times to force the tears away, to clear up her vision, to see what was right in front of her. She didn't care that the disastrous scent was choking her, she was sobbing too hard to take notice.

"No!" She forced the word out and shrieked: a gut wrenching, heart breaking, ear piercing screech. She had no doubt in her mind that any other wolf within a five mile radius would have heard her, but it didn't matter, she didn't care. Her house, all that had been left of her childhood, was now a charred skeleton and a smoldering pile of ashes.

The deputy let go of her and Sydney roughly dropped her butt to the ground, her legs going out to the side and her palms pressing against the rigid ground beneath her. She stared at the blackened and burned remains of what was left of her house and let out another gut wrenching scream.

Burying her face in her hands, she tried to picture her parents' smiling faces but with the precious memories came anger, hate and the undeniable desire for revenge. Lifting her head up, she watched in horror as the last of the flames was put out, leaving nothing intact. There was no going back now.

When all that was left of her house was a smoking skeleton, charred framing the only thing that remained standing, Sydney began to sob with the intentions of not being able to ever stop. The pain was simply too much.

In mere minutes her childhood home, the only thing that she had left of her parents had been decimated and she had been reduced to watching helplessly from the sidelines.

"Sydney?"

She jerked her head around and came face to face with none other than Stiles; leave it to the human to be the one to show up at a fierce fire. She assumed it was because of his father, the sheriff, but what did it matter in the grand scheme of things. She was just thankful to have someone there for her who knew her, someone familiar to hold on to.

She didn't have to say anything, she couldn't even if she wanted to, her throat was raw from the screaming and the smoke and it took all she had just to sit on the ground and wait for him to crouch down next to her. When Stiles was within reach, she lunged at him, burying her tear stained face against his shoulder, then she began to sob harder, her body shaking with each wail. Everything that she had left had been destroyed.

"Syd, shh, you're okay, that's what matters." Stiles' voice was reassuring but it didn't stop the pain, her heart had been shattered, her chest tight with anguish. Whoever had done this to her needed to pay.

"My house." She murmured pathetically and felt his grasp on her tighten. She snuggled into his hold and moved with him as he rose up to his feet, still hanging onto her with everything he had. She pressed her body against his and Stiles' hands began moving up and down her back in a soothing gesture.

"My dad will figure this out." Stiles offered up the words as a means of comfort but Sydney knew that even if the sheriff did figure it out, he wouldn't be able to dole out the punishment that whoever had lit her house on fire deserved, no that would have to fall into her very own hands. "He'll catch the guy."

She didn't say another word and let Stiles lead her away from the smoking remnants of her childhood home. Seconds later the sheriff himself wandered over to her and studied the woman in his son's arms. With a hesitant look, Sheriff Stilinski gently set his hand on her shoulder, catching her attention instantly.

"You're Sydney Vance?" He questioned softly, studying her broken expression. Her eyes were full of tears, streaks ran down her cheeks and her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"Yeah." She choked the word out. "That's my house."

"I'm sorry." The sheriff murmured and Stiles gently peeled himself away from the sobbing woman. He ran his hand over her back and nodded at his father. "I'm so sorry."

Stiles watched as Sydney stepped forward and cautiously moved into the sheriff's hold. He didn't object one bit; in fact he opened his arms and welcomed her into his embrace. It didn't take much for Stiles' to figure out that Sydney didn't need him; she didn't need Peter to hold on to her, she needed something that only a loving parent could provide. His eyes welled up now too as he watched his own father cradle the shaking body of the alpha werewolf.

"We'll catch the guy that did this." The sheriff whispered, hugging her tight against his body. "I promise you."

Stiles stepped towards them and hugged her from behind, trying to help calm Sydney down. She continued to sob but clung to Stiles' father, as though he were her only source of comfort. Stiles turned his attention towards the charred remains of the Vance house and couldn't help but wonder who would want to hurt Sydney and who would have made it personal?

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_I hope that anyone reading this is still enjoying it, I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? _**

**_I must continue thank you all for continuing to follow and support 'The Wolf You Feed' so thank you, a million times over._**

**_poorxbrok_****_excollegexkid: The power struggle, yes, oh yes, neither one is going to back down any time soon! Syd's taking care of business now!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: It's always about money haha! Liam and Sydney WILL be meeting, I promise you that! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!_**

**_LirealAion: I tried something different this chapter so hopefully you like it. There's going to be a quite a bit more of Sydney interacting with the rest of Scott's pack, the Stilinskis and Deputy Parrish, I hope you enjoy and thank you so much for the review!_**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? Again, if you've got any favourite parts, I'd love to hear what they were! _**

**_Who do you think burned down her house? I'll give you a hint, it wasn't their first time playing with fire! _**

**_How are you guys liking Sydney and the Stinlinskis interacting too?_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 8****:**

Sydney wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to be doing, all she knew was that she was desperate to keep the tears at bay and to remain as calm as she could considering what she had just witnessed happen to her house.

Stiles had convinced his father to bring her into the Sheriff's office and now she sat across from the sheriff with one of his large jackets adorning her body as she curled her legs up under her bum. Sheriff Stilinski himself was seated behind his desk and when she tore her eyes off the older man, she glanced to her right and laid her eyes on Stiles sitting in the chair next to hers. He reached out and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze in the process.

"Sydney, is it okay if I call you that, or do you prefer Miss Vance?" The sheriff's voice was soft and calming and Sydney looked at him with her tear filled eyes.

"Sydney." She nodded. "Sydney's just fine."

"I'm sorry about what happened to your house."

"Well it's not your fault." Sydney countered and pathetically tried to flash the man a smile. She failed miserably and instead of feigning happiness, more tears leaked out of her eyes, running over her smooth skin as she quickly swiped them away with her free hand.

"Are you physically hurt in any way?"

Stiles clutched her hand tighter as she slipped her legs out from underneath her as she hauled up her foot and glanced at the bottom of it. There were a few scrapes and punctures from the barefooted run to her burning house but she knew that they'd be perfectly healed soon enough. It was part of the reason why she was currently sitting in the sheriff's office and not on a bed in the hospital. Stiles had informed her to refuse medical treatment at the scene, and Sydney, with a blank expression on her face, did just that.

"No." She shook her head.

"You sure?" The sheriff pressed and motioned at her feet with a small smile.

"Yes, they'll heal in no time." She nodded. "I've had worse."

"Right."

"Took a samurai sword in the stomach, had my fingers broken by a psychopath, not to mention-"

"Syd, it's okay." Stiles leaned towards her and cut her off. He could tell that she was getting antsy and angry but not at his dad for dragging her into the sheriff's office, no Sydney was right pissed off at whoever had burned down her house.

"How is it okay?" She growled in Stiles' direction. "My house was just burned to the ground and you're going to sit there and tell me that it's okay?"

"Sydney that's not what he was trying to say." The sheriff's voice was almost soothing to her and she felt her body relaxing the slightest little bit at his words. She was tired, angry, upset, all she wanted to do was get back to the apartment and crawl into bed, with or without Peter; it didn't even matter at that moment.

On one hand she would have loved to curl up against him and just let the world fade away for even just a few minutes but on the other hand, she knew Peter wouldn't just let it go. He'd ask her questions about why she had taken off and then why she hadn't returned right away. He'd pretend he didn't know what was going on but she knew that he would already know that her house had been lit on fire, Peter always seemed to know.

"I just…" She paused and stuffed the hand that Stiles wasn't holding between her bare thighs. "I thought it was over, I thought that there wasn't anything left that they could destroy."

Stiles scooted his chair closer to her and gently rested his palm on her knee. Her pajama shorts were dirty from when she had dropped to the ground and she was currently wearing the jacket to keep her warm but also to provide a sense of comfort.

"Whoever did this won't get away with it." Stiles offered and she let out a feral growl.

"I'll hunt them down and I _will_ kill them." She grumbled and the sheriff just looked at her, not entirely sure if she'd really go through with her threat.

"Don't go doing anything drastic just yet okay; let's see if we can't solve this the good old fashioned way."

"No offense sheriff but someone out there has it out for me and I can guarantee you that they aren't human." Sydney explained. "It wouldn't surprise me if whoever burned my house down played a part in the slaughter of my parents."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"I bet someone out there knows who did it." Sydney shook her head with a scoff.

"Did what? Burned your house down or killed your parents?" The sheriff asked calmly, genuinely curious as to what she was referring too. It wasn't too farfetched of an idea to think that maybe Sydney had her own suspicions about who murdered her parents. If there was one thing the sheriff was learning was that werewolves seemed to have their own ways to go about solving crimes and doling out punishment.

"Oh, right. Well uh, the people that killed my parents were taken care of, for the most part." Sydney lowered her voice. "I think there's still someone out there who played their part but I can't be certain. It's probably a hunter though."

"And do you think that these, uh, hunters started the fire that destroyed your house?"

"Maybe it was Kate." Stiles piped up and Sydney's head whipped to the side to stare at him in confusion. "Kate Argent."

"What? Why would she-"

"Think about it Syd, she's making it personal. Whatever she is, she could gain a lot by going after you. Maybe the fire was to get your attention, not to mention she's proven that she's capable of setting house fires in the past."

"Hold on now Stiles." The sheriff lifted his hand into the air. "Let's not jump to-"

"You think Kate burned down my house to get my attention? But why?" Sydney cut him off and didn't break her focus on Stiles.

The kid was maybe on to something, he could definitely have a point. Kate Argent didn't like threats and Sydney was, as much as she hated to admit it, a very large threat, especially after revealing her alpha status in the vault. Kate could have easily lit her house on fire to catch Sydney's attention and make her angry, so angry that she'd go off in search of her in a blind rage and end up on the receiving end of an unfair attack.

"She'd want you out of the way right? She already got to Derek, she could be sending you a message, maybe this is her way of telling you to stay out of her way."

"Hold on now." The sheriff interjected and Sydney and Stiles both looked in his direction. "Would she really do that? Would she really burn down a house just to send a message? It seems kind of drastic to me and maybe the facts say-"

"Kate Argent locked the Hale family in their own basement and lit the house on fire, with them inside. I think she might have been hoping that I was in _my_ house when it burned down…don't underestimate how completely crazy she is." Sydney shot back. "She's certifiably insane."

"Well then that may be true but I can't just have you going around playing the role of Beacon Hill's vigilante." The sheriff leaned forward and locked his eyes on Sydney. Stiles huffed in frustration.

"I don't want to see Stiles get hurt." Sydney countered. "Or you for that matter. Let me handle the supernatural side of things, please? You just make sure you keep your humans in one piece."

"Sydney-"

"Sheriff I'm not here to tell you how to do your job, really, I'm not. I'm just trying to get you to understand how dangerous this is going to be. I have super healing abilities, you don't. I grew up without a father; don't put Stiles through the same thing."

"Just promise me that you'll be careful." The sheriff sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument.

"I promise." Sydney nodded solemnly. "And thank you."

"Yeah." The sheriff nodded.

"Not for letting me go after her, for being there. It's been a long time since I've had a father figure in my life."

Stiles beamed at his own father and squeezed her hand once more. She glanced at Stiles and then back at the sheriff.

"Well don't get yourself killed and maybe we can talk adoption." The sheriff nodded but followed up his statement with a tiny little smirk.

"Okay." Sydney nodded back and felt the slightest bit of relief. All that was left was for her to keep her promise and to keep Sheriff Stilinski safe.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

They had stuck it out in the sheriff's office for a good hour longer after discussing that Kate most likely played a part in the fire at her house, which had successfully been put out. Unfortunately her childhood home was utterly destroyed, completely beyond repair, and if she was going to rebuild, she'd need a lot more money than she currently had access too. When she asked if any of her belongings had survived, the young deputy outside was quick to make a phone call to the firefighters still at the scene. He had confirmed that nothing was left, nothing but framing and studs.

Sydney found herself sitting on one of the chairs in the lobby as she waited for Stiles to finish chatting with his father. He had offered to take her home seeing as her only other method of transportation was her bare feet and yes, Stiles knew she could handle herself but neither one of them knew for sure what all was out there and who, if anyone, had really targeted her house. He didn't want her walking around Beacon Hills by herself and she hadn't disagreed, not this time. She wasn't going to risk her life for some lame sense of pride.

The young deputy, the same one who had wrapped his arms around her at the fire, sat behind the desk, his eyes scanning over her. She wasn't wearing too many clothes, her hair was slightly messy and she had her hands tucked into the sleeves of an old sweater that Stiles had wrangled up for her to take the place of the sheriff's jacket that she had been wearing earlier. Sydney glanced up at him and lifted her hand, setting her palm against the side of her face.

"I'm sorry about your house." The young deputy offered, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. Sydney awkwardly shrugged her shoulders and took her bottom lip in between her teeth. "I guess you're waiting for Stiles to take you home then, is that right?"

"Yes." Sydney answered softly and lifted her legs up, tucking them under her bum. She couldn't help but watch the man as he stood up and slowly crossed the room. Her eyes never left his as he approached her and dropped down to squat in front of her.

"I'm not sure how much longer he's supposed to be but I'm leaving here in about five minutes, I could take you home, I mean, if you want."

Sydney sucked in a breath and leaned forward. She peeled her hand away from her face and reached out towards him, setting her palm in his shoulder.

"I don't know you." She stated with a knowing smirk. "My grandma taught me not to get into cars with strange boys."

"Well I'm Deputy Parrish and what did your grandma tell you about getting into cars belonging to respected officers of the law?" He countered and matched her smirk with one of his own.

Sydney cocked her head to the side and shook her head at his argument. She didn't not trust him, she barely knew him but that wasn't going to stop her. He had offered her a ride home and, considering how late at night it was, Sydney would have felt better if Stiles headed straight to his house and right to bed. He was still in high school after all; the poor kid didn't need to be losing any more sleep, especially because of her.

If this Deputy Parrish tried anything with her, well she was a strong alpha werewolf, he wouldn't stand a chance, but Sydney didn't figure that someone who worked for the sheriff's department would be stupid enough to try something, especially not with a woman who knew Stiles. That meant that the sheriff wouldn't just brush off _any_ accusations from her, _if there ever were any_.

"If I'm completely honest with you, I never paid much attention to my grandma." She said and let out a small chuckle. "And even if I did, it's not like she can do anything about it because she's not here."

"You strike me as the type of woman who doesn't need her grandma's permission anyways." He nodded and rose up to his full height, straightening out his body. She tilted her head back and looked up at him, slowly uncurling her legs from underneath her.

"Let me just go let Stiles know that I have a ride, okay?"

"Absolutely."

Sydney smiled politely at him and dropped her feet to the cold, hard, tile floor of the lobby. She hauled herself out of the uncomfortable chair that she had been sitting and waiting in and stretched her arms into the air before sauntering away from the row of chairs and heading in the direction of the sheriff's office, where she could easily hear Stiles and his dad conversing.

Pausing just outside the man's office, she lifted her hand up and rapped her knuckles on the open door. Stiles stopped talking and jerked his body around to face her, his dad shaking his head at his son. The sheriff locked his eyes on Sydney and tossed a small smile in her direction.

"I'm almost done, just-"

"Your deputy offered to take me home." Sydney cut Stiles off and maintained her eye contact with the sheriff. "Parrish. He offered me a ride."

"What, no, I'm almost done here." Stiles argued and the sheriff rose to his feet, pressing his palms against the desk. Stiles whipped his head back around and looked at his dad, recoiling slightly at the unamused look gracing the older Stilinski's features.

"If he doesn't mind, that's fine with me." The sheriff replied and Sydney nodded her understanding. She hesitated outside the doorway but pranced into the office, heading right for the man behind the desk.

The sheriff stiffened as Sydney's arms came around his torso and she hugged him tight, pressing her ear against his chest, directly over his heart. He paused momentarily but eventually hugged her back and seconds later, the two of them pulled away, Sydney forcing a smile up at the older man.

"Thank you." She murmured and he nodded, not wanting to ruin the moment by saying something unnecessary. Sydney ducked down and gave Stiles a quick hug too before disappearing back out into the lobby.

When she reappeared in front of Parrish's desk, she closed the distance and rested her elbows on the surface. He looked up from whatever paperwork he was filling out and tossed her a charming grin. Sydney shied away from his piercing gaze and felt her cheeks burning just from his look. She wouldn't deny that he was a very attractive man and he was around her age, at least as far as she could tell. If she didn't have Peter, she'd definitely be interested in getting to know him on a more personal level. Fortunately though, she _did_ have Peter and she loved him, she wouldn't trade him for anyone, not even Deputy Sexy.

"You good to go?" He questioned and she nodded. He reached down onto the desk and swiped the keys that were residing there. Sydney stepped around the desk and met him as he stepped out from behind it. "So, since I gave you my name, do I get to hear yours?"

Sydney fell in stride next to him, the two of them heading for the front doors to the sheriff's station. He pulled the door open for her and motioned for her to step through, but she paused inside the doorframe, taking a firm stance in front of him and looking up into his captivating eyes.

"Sydney Vance." She smiled and gave him a little nod before moving the rest of the way through the door.

"Vance? That sounds familiar." He remarked and led her to the side of the police station. Parrish jogged ahead of her and made his way around one of the cruisers before shoving the key into the lock on the door and twisting it. By the time Sydney met up with him, he had the door wide open and was standing at the edge of it, waving her in.

She ducked down and climbed into the cruiser. Parrish gingerly shut the door for her and strode around the front of the car. She watched as the driver's side door opened and he climbed in with her, glancing her way as he shut the door. Her eyes never left his face, his flawless skin, chiseled jaw, and amazing hair too, as he put the key into the ignition and started the engine.

"Maybe the reason my name sounds so familiar is because there's an unsolved case involving my parents." She stated, a sad tone taking over her voice. He threw the cruiser into gear and carefully backed out of the parking space before righting the vehicle and heading for the road.

"Oh, no, you're not- man I'm so sorry. Your parents were the ones who were-"

"I like to use the term slaughtered but killed works too." She cut him off before he could start feeling too sorry for her. She didn't like pity, she didn't need it. She was strong, she survived this long without her parents, and she'd continue to be fine.

"That's- I'm so sorry."

"Well it's not your fault." She tried to tease him but she just sounded pathetic, completely and utterly pathetic. He was probably starting to think that she was a little crazy, joking about her parents' murders but there was nothing she could do about it now, not that she really cared all that much about revenge at this point. Weren't the people who had killed her parents dead? Hadn't Braeden taken them out when she had rescued her and the Hales? As far as Sydney knew, the answer to both questions was yes.

"Uh no, you were just a kid and you don't look that much younger than me so no, I didn't have anything to do with your parents." He teased her back, clearly sensing that maybe her way of dealing with the pain was to joke about it. He knew that different people coped with pain in different ways, joking and laughing wasn't too far from normal, it was definitely better than if she ended up bawling and snotting, that much was certain.

"I'm twenty-four." She nodded.

"No way, me too!" He shot back and glanced over at her, tearing his eyes off the road just in time to see her smiling at him. "Too bad I didn't know you back then, we could have been friends."

"I had friends, but thank you." She chuckled. "Derek Hale was practically like my brother growing up."

"Wait, Derek Hale. You know Derek Hale?" Parrish was back looking out the front window of the car as he asked the question. Sydney wasn't too surprised about it, especially after hearing from Stiles that Derek had been at the police station not too long ago. Surely this man would be confused, he had seen Derek in his child form, isn't that what had happened? Did he know what the real Derek, the current Derek, looked like too?

"Yeah, we grew up together until my parents died, then I got shipped off to Colorado." Sydney answered and glanced out the windows. "Do you know where you're going by the way?"

"Not a clue, I figured you'd tell me if I made a wrong turn."

"The apartments downtown, head that way." She chuckled.

"Okay." He nodded. "So, tell me about Colorado."

Sydney let out a small sigh and felt her body relax. This car ride wasn't quite as awkward as she figured it would be. Maybe at the end of it, her and Parrish could actually, maybe, have created a solid foundation for a friendship to be built on. She could definitely use a few more friends in her life, especially ones her own age.

"Good skiing in the winter." She teased. "I lived near Denver, didn't have too many friends there. Once word got around that I was some freak whose parents were murdered, well, there weren't too many people who really wanted to be my friend."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I do, however, find that hard to believe. If you were half as beautiful then as you are now I don't know how you would have been able to keep the boys away."

"Oh smooth." She gasped but let out a little giggle at his compliment. "And for your information, I beat all the boys off with a stick."

"Now that's something I can believe." He smirked and turned his head to look at her. She shook her head at him and he focused his attention back onto the road in front of them. "How come you came back here then? No offense but Colorado sounds much nicer than this place."

"It is but once my grandparents died I didn't have anyone left there. At least here I had Derek. It's kind of nice to be back though."

"Even with all the weird things going on?" Parrish pressed and flashed a quick look in her direction.

She let out a sigh and tried not to think too much about all the weird things that had happened since she had come back to Beacon Hills. She was used to the supernatural bullshit but this deputy sitting next to her; well she wasn't entirely sure what he knew. If he was from Beacon Hills then he had to know something weird was going on and maybe he did but Sydney didn't want to be the one to pull the wool away from his eyes and reveal a whole other world of danger to him.

"I find that it's easier to go under the radar if you're not in law enforcement or medical care." She laughed. "Shit seems to happen more to authority figures, in case you didn't notice."

"Oh no, I noticed." Parrish chuckled. "Doesn't scare me though."

"No?"

"If I admit that it maybe scares me a little, will you look at me as less of a man?" He teased and she shook her head no.

"It's a dirty job but someone has to do it." She jeered. "As one of your protected citizens though, I should thank you."

"No need. It's all part of the job."

"Okay, well then as someone who grew up here, you should pack your bags and leave before something freaky happens."

"Freakier than-"

"Whatever you're going to say, yes, freakier than that. This town is dangerous."

"You don't seem worried." He pointed out.

Sydney pointed to the road in front of them, "That's my building, up there on the right."

He nodded that he heard her and slowed down as he approached the parking lot.

"So, how come you're still here, why haven't you packed up and left?" Parrish asked and she shrugged.

"I don't really have anywhere else to go." She stated. "Plus I've made some really good friends here."

"Am I one of your really good friends yet?" Parrish slowed the cruiser right down and pulled into the lot. He brought the car to a stop in the middle of the driveway, put the gearshift into park and looked over at Sydney.

"It takes more than _one_ ride home." She countered. "But I think maybe we could call ourselves good acquaintances."

"Okay, I'll accept that." He grinned. "Then can I take you out for coffee sometime, maybe I can tell you about myself?"

"Way to sound conceited." She remarked and made a move to get out but she paused and turned back to face him. "Coffee doesn't sound so bad."

"Well how about dinner?"

"Oh I see what this is." She dropped her head down and put her fingers on the handle. "I'm actually seeing someone and it's pretty serious but I think that if you stick to coffee, I'd really like to get to know you, as a friend."

Parrish watched her as she turned her back to him and pulled the handle, popping the car door open. She twisted her head back to him but continued climbing out of the car.

"I think I'd like that too." He nodded. Sydney made her way out of the cruiser and set her palm on the roof of the car, leaning over and poking her head back inside. Parrish dug into his pocket and searched for something, Sydney watching on in curiosity as he finally pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. He extended it towards her and she cocked her head at him, clearly confused as to what he wanted her to do with it.

"Uh?" She looked up from the phone and met his gaze.

"For your number." He smiled. "How am I supposed to go for coffee with you if I don't have a way to contact you?"

"Right, my number." She dropped her eyes to the phone and worked away at inputting her name and number into his contacts. His eyes never left her form as she continued to plug away at the number pad. Seconds later she handed the device back to him and waited for him to look at what she had put in.

"I'll call you sometime."

"Sounds good." Sydney hesitated for a second and brought a smile up onto her face. "Thanks for the ride."

"Yeah, no problem. Be careful out there, I don't want any freaky stuff happening to you." Parrish smiled right back at her.

"Thanks but uh, I can take care of myself." She chuckled and straightened up. She pushed the door shut and gave the roof of the car a rough pat. He honked his horn at her and slowly backed the cruiser out of the parking lot, back onto the road.

She stood on the pavement in her bare feet until the cruiser was no longer in her line of sight. Sydney let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and, seconds later, with a smile on her face, she wandered towards the entrance to the building.

It was definitely good to be _home_.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_There you have it, a little more Stilinski Family and Sydney interaction, not to mention her and Parrish, I'd love to know what you guys think of their budding friendship._**

**_Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to the favourites or alerts! _**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**_WickedlyMinx: thank you so much for taking the time to review and hey, now we know that Kate's the most likely culprit!_**

**__****_LirealAion: Oh hey look, it's Thursday :P! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you so much!_**

**_poorxbrok_****_excollegexkid: Ah yes, Stilinski Family feels! Sydney and Stiles/Sheriff are adorable!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Stiles/Syd BROTP! Yes, yes exactly! The destruction of her house was just fuel to the fire (no pun intended), Kate's going down if Sydney has anything to say about it! Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_Jordan Lynn 7: Thanks for leaving me a review! I hope this chapter didn't leave you too sad!_**

**_What did you guys think of the chapter? Again, if you've got any favourite parts, I'd love to hear what they were! _**

**_How do you feel about Sydney and Parrish? _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 9****:**

Peter hadn't jumped at her the second she entered the apartment, in fact, it wasn't until she wandered into the bedroom that he said anything to her at all. She had found him sitting on their bed, a book propped open on his lap, shortly after she wandered into the apartment. Sydney had been expecting questions galore from him, maybe even theories that he had come up with on who he believed had burned down her house but he said nothing, not a word, not until she peeled off the hoodie, and the shirt underneath, and crawled into the bed next to him, burying her nearly naked body under the covers and curling up against his side.

"I was starting to worry." He murmured and paused in his reading as he slipped a protective arm around her shoulders.

"Worry? About me?"

"You have a tendency to do rash things-"

"You were starting to think that I didn't come home because I was off chasing down the person who _I_ think burned down my house?" She questioned and he furrowed his brows at her, a confused look etched on his face.

"That's where you took off too? Someone burned down your old house?" He asked softly, his voice giving away that he was genuinely concerned about her.

"Yes." She nodded hesitantly. "You didn't know that's where I went?"

"No. I just assumed that you had a good reason and whatever it was, you'd tell me about it after everything was said and done. If I had of known that you were out there because someone burned down your house though, I might have been more inclined to chase after you."

Sydney let out a soft sigh and stretched her legs out, running her toes along the outline of his shins. Having to tell him about the fire was worse than if he had already known. She hated the idea of saying the words out loud, of making it all too real, of accusing Kate without proof but who else would target her directly? Stiles had made a very compelling argument, and in the long run, did it really matter if it was Kate that did it or not? No, in Sydney's eyes, the bitch was going to die either way; she had sealed her fate long ago, before Sydney's house had gone up in flames.

"You didn't hear me screaming?" She questioned and buried her face against the side of his neck, pressing her lips against his skin, relishing in the warmth and comfort that he provided her when she needed it and boy did she need it.

"I did actually and I waited for a little while to see if you were okay. I was about to head out after you but then you stopped. I figured that if you were mad, well then I should probably just leave you alone."

She let out a snort of amusement, "you're smarter than you look."

"Do you want to talk about it? I have a few questions for you if you're feeling up to it too."

She lifted her head away from him and looked into his eyes, studying his gaze. She watched as the vibrant blue swirled through his irises and she quickly countered with her alpha reds. He smirked at her action and ran his hand up and down her arm, feeling the tenseness in her muscles.

"Someone set my parents' old house on fire." She started. "I smelled it, that's why I took off, I could smell the smoke but that wasn't what caught my attention."

"You smelled their blood, didn't you?" Peter broke in, sensing that she'd need a little bit of help telling her story if she was going to be able to make it all the way through without breaking down into a million pieces.

"Yeah." She sighed and took in a deep breath of air. "I panicked. I mean, I smelled blood, smoke, I could feel the heat from the flames-"

"As though you were there, in the house?" He interrupted, trying to figure out exactly what she was trying to explain. "Did you feel the heat burning your skin?"

"A little bit but it was more inside. I could feel the heat inside my body, trying to burn its way out. It wasn't as bad as when Kate set _your_ house on fire but the feeling was still there. My insides felt like they were right there, like _I _was right there with them."

"But your mother and father have been dead for years."

"I know." She murmured.

"I could understand why you'd be able to feel the flames if they were alive but that doesn't make any sense. There was nothing left of them inside the house."

"Well there was their blood." Sydney stated. "In the kitchen."

Peter gripped her harder and held on to her, feeling the sadness welling up in her body. When he chanced a glance down at her face, he spotted tears rolling over her smooth, flawless cheeks yet no sounds came from her, not yet at least. He moved his free hand over towards her and gingerly brushed the tears away from her skin, catching her eyes as she looked up at him, her usual brown irises now present.

"I'm sorry." Peter offered and made another gentle swipe at her skin, brushing fresh tears away.

"Stiles had a theory." She struggled to get the words out but managed to do so without faltering. "He thinks that Kate set it, that she lit my house on fire so that I knew it was personal. She wants me."

"Sydney, just worry about that later. Try to calm down, try to sleep-"

"She's not going to survive the next time she crosses my path." Sydney cut him off, her tone icy cold and laced with venom. "She's going to die."

"And I won't stop you but for right now, I think you should try to get some rest. Things won't look as dire in the morning."

She didn't even bother with a response. Peter had a point; well, maybe things wouldn't look _as_ dire in the morning but she knew for sure that her head would be a little clearer; maybe her heart wouldn't be aching as much. She could lay down a plan, a no-fail plan that would ultimately end in her destroying Kate Argent and all that she stood for. Supernatural creature or not, the former hunter, current werejaguar, whatever the hell she was, Kate was going to die at Sydney's hands, and she'd make sure that it was agonizingly painful.

She'd feed off the anguish as she crushed her bones to dust. A smile would cross her face as she ripped into Kate's flesh before pulling out her innards and tossing them aside. She'd spare no mercy as she let her decimated carcass fall to the ground and just for good measure, she'd set the pile of skin on fire, making sure the world would never have to deal with Kate Argent ever again. Yes, that's exactly what Sydney would do, and no one, not even Peter, would be able to stop her.

"You smell like-"

"I went with Stiles to the sheriff's office." Sydney cut him off and found herself still daydreaming about all the possibilities that she could come up with in order to deal with Kate. "And one of the deputies had to pull me back, it's probably just-"

"Okay." Peter nodded and placed a chaste kiss on her temple.

"Okay? Really? You're just going to let it go?"

"Why not?"

"Um, okay. Fine." She nodded at him now and settled into his hold. "Oh, and one of the deputies drove me home."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Deputy Parrish. Very charming. We talked about my life in Colorado a little bit. He's read my parents file."

Peter bowed his head and rested his forehead against hers. She peered up into his eyes and took her bottom lip between her teeth, contemplating her next move. She wasn't in the mood for anything other than innocent cuddling but at the same time, part of her wanted nothing more than to start something with Peter. She was nearly naked already and it wouldn't take much convincing to get him to the same point.

"While I'm not a fan of you riding in cars with strange men, I know very well that you can handle yourself."

Sydney tried to fight off the smirk that was threatening to make its presence known. Here he was, here was jealous Peter, even in the most innocent of situations, he always had something to say. It was becoming clear that she should stop being concerned with what her grandmother would have thought because Peter was the one who was concerned about her now.

"He asked me out for coffee." Sydney baited.

"Did he now?"

"Yeah and he's okay looking, I mean if you're into gorgeous guys with sexy smiles." Sydney shrugged jokingly and let out a squeal as Peter gripped her side. "Okay, okay! But you know that you're the only man for me."

"I better be."

"I'm sorry; I couldn't turn down his offer of a ride home. You know how women feel about men in uniform, don't you?" She smirked. "Although I think what women really prefer are men out of uniform, without any clothes on at all."

"Why don't we go have a shower instead?" Peter countered, still able to smell the other male scents on her.

"Sex?" She cocked her head to the side in question.

"In the shower? Don't be absurd." He shot back with a smirk. "You should know by now that you don't even have to ask."

"Oh it's a given then?"

"Of course."

Before Sydney had a chance to laugh, smile or reply in any way, Peter was climbing off the bed, his hand reaching out for her before he hauled her out of the covers and pulled her against him. She slipped her arms around his neck, pressed her chest against him and let her forehead fall gently against his.

"Can you do something for me?" She asked, dropping her voice down so that it was barely louder than a whisper.

"Anything." He breathed back his response.

"Can you come with me tomorrow? I want to go back to my house and see if I can't find something that would lead me to Kate."

"I can do that."

"Okay, good." She leaned forward and closed the distance between their lips, pressing hers against his. Peter's grip on her tightened and his hands roamed up her sides, gently digging into the skin just under her breasts. When he pulled away, she smiled up at him.

"I'm sorry that you lost the last thing you had left of your parents." Peter said quietly and she nodded her understanding. There wasn't anything he could do to bring them back, and her house was gone forever now too but he could offer his condolences, he could make sure that she knew he loved her. He could stand by her side as she walked through the flames and came out on the other side nearly unscathed.

Peter had faith that she'd bounce back eventually. He knew it would be a long road, that she'd encounter roadblocks but she was a strong woman, an alpha werewolf. If anyone could recover from such a tragedy, he knew that it would be Sydney.

"I'm sorry that you were locked in the basement when Kate set _your_ house on fire." She countered, pulling him out of his thoughts before leaning forward and hugging him tight.

In that moment they weren't that different. They were both people who had suffered loss; they were both people who had the past burned, destroying everything but ashes. They knew what they had to do and they knew they were going to do it together.

It all came down to hunting down the culprit and finishing them off. No one was going to walk away from Sydney without being punished, they'd get what was coming their way, they'd get what they deserved.

"I love you." Sydney murmured and dropped her head down to rest against his shoulder.

"And I love you."

Sydney let out a soft sigh and settled down the slightest bit. There wasn't anything she could do at that moment. What had happened to her house was done; there was no turning back now. Sydney knew what she had to do and she knew where she had to start.

Kate Argent was going to die.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney's body ached but not from any injuries or wounds, no her body ached because she had spent the night tossing and turning, her muscles tensed as the flames danced in her dreams, surrounding her house and enveloping it with memories of her parents still inside. By the time the sun rose, she was exhausted and was almost worse for wear than if she had just stayed up all night.

Peter hadn't seemed to have much trouble getting to sleep; he was out cold minutes after they had crawled under the covers after their shower. The only thing that even came close to soothing her was the steady beating of his heart and his arm wrapped around her midsection. Sydney couldn't help but feel that his statement of things looking less dire in the morning would wind up being absurdly untrue.

When she finally managed to haul herself out of bed, after putting it off to cuddle under the covers with Peter, things looked direr than ever. She had asked him to go with her to the remnants of her house and with every second that passed she was growing more and more anxious at what she might find there.

The sheriff had promised that he was going to do whatever he could in order to figure out who had set the fire and Sydney hadn't thought too much of it, not until she turned her car onto the street that her house was situated on.

Peter was sitting in the passenger seat, oddly quiet, as he studied the environment around her house. He could smell faint traces of lingering smoke and ash the second they were on her street and when Sydney pulled up closer to her house, she was almost taken aback by all of the people on her parents' property. There were deputies, no sheriff though, and firemen trekking around the grounds, everyone seemed to be playing their role, whether they were there to investigate or to make sure that the remaining structure of what was left of the house was sturdy.

Sydney put the car in park, turned it off and pulled the keys from the ignition. She popped her door open and stepped out onto the pavement of the street in front of her house. Walking towards what was left of her childhood home, she looked around at each and every deputy. She wasn't sure whether she was hoping to lay her eyes on the charming Deputy Parrish or if she was hoping he wasn't around so that she wouldn't have to explain to him that she was, in fact, in a relationship with Peter Hale, a man much older than her.

"Sydney." Peter called out to her softly and she turned around, facing him as he honed in on her. She stopped walking and waited for him to close the distance between them, his hand immediately reaching for hers when he got within reach.

"What?" She questioned, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Maybe we should come back another time." Peter suggested and she glanced back at the charred bones of her house.

"I just…can I have a minute?" She pondered and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. Peter let go of her hand and motioned towards the car. She nodded her understanding and before she could say anything more, he headed back towards the road.

She would never admit it out loud but having him wait in the car seemed to be a much better idea. This way she could venture further onto the scene of the crime without people looking at her with Peter, without them judging her.

"Sydney Vance!"

Sydney turned her head in the direction that her name had come from. She hadn't seen him earlier but that didn't stop him from being there. Sydney forced a small, lame smile onto her face and tossed a wave in Parrish's direction. He wandered towards her, something burned and charred in his possession, and she couldn't help but feel slightly better about the entire situation. At least with Deputy Sexy on the case, she'd know that he'd be thorough, nothing would be missed.

"How are you today?" She countered and he closed in on her, leaving just a few feet between them.

"Well I had to drink my coffee alone this morning seeing as you weren't there to join me but other than that, I guess I can't complain." Parrish motioned towards the house. "On the bright side, at least you weren't _in_ there, right?"

"Well I haven't really been in there in a long time." She stated and couldn't help but feel a little better because of his concern. She could hardly count the time that her and Peter had ventured inside to explore though. They hadn't been inside for very long, at least not that Sydney was awake for. She had fallen asleep in her bed, in her childhood bedroom surrounded by her memories. The last thing she had seen before succumbing to her exhaustion that night had been the incredibly detailed sky that once resided on her ceiling, courtesy of her mother's artistic hand. "I guess the sheriff spoke to you then, about-"

"Yes, there's a full investigation being conducted. We've got a team of deputies, the county Fire Marshall is supposed to be here soon. At this point we have to suspect some sort of foul play. There's no way that an abandoned house would just go up in flames without some sort of spark or ignition point."

"Yeah." She sighed, not really realizing how hard it would actually be to talk shop about a fire at her own house. She hated how broken she sounded, how small she felt because of it. Sydney dropped her gaze to the ground and moved her hands up to rest against her hips. When she glanced at the car, she spotted Peter watching her carefully, studying her movements. Brushing him off, Sydney locked her eyes back on Parrish. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being there I guess and driving me home last night."

Parrish tossed her one of his charming smiles and nodded his head at her. There was no doubt in her mind that she was starting to enjoy his company, it was just a shame that the only reason they had met had been because of the fire.

She let out another sigh, which seemed to catch his attention more so than her presence had already because in a split second, he looked down at the item in his hand and began extending his hands out to her, offering her the blackened object that he had in his hold.

"I found this when I was doing a walkthrough. I thought maybe you'd want it, it's the only thing that survived and I figure it's because it was lodged under a broke support beam." He said softly and Sydney found her hands shaking significantly as she reached out and took hold of the stuffed wolf she had affectionately named Derek when she was younger. It had been a full moon present from her parents and she was grateful that Parrish had found it.

The wolf's fur was filthy and charred but still completely intact, his plastic nose was slightly melted and mangled but it still very much resembled a nose; it even smelled faintly of her mother and father. For the most part the wolf was in decent condition and Sydney couldn't help it as tears welled up in her eyes.

"My wolf." She murmured and held the stuffed animal tight in her hands before bringing it against her chest and hugging it against her body. Parrish reached out and set his palm on her shoulder, Sydney melting into his touch. Before she knew what was happening, she was curled up in his embrace with tears rolling over her cheeks.

"I don't know who would have wanted to hurt you this bad-"

"What are you talking about?" Sydney cut him off, wondering why he had said that. Did he figure that someone had made things personal; that someone had set out to plunge one more dagger into her heart and break her into pieces? Did he know more than he let on? Had Stiles and the sheriff spoken too loudly in the past about supernatural creatures?

"The sheriff explained to me that he thinks maybe it's possible that whoever played a role in your parents' murder all those years ago might have decided to finish off the house. If you know something, anything, that you think might be able to help us-"

"I don't know." She murmured. She had blatantly lied to this man, this wonderful man who had been nothing but nice to her. It didn't matter, even if she could tell him the truth, how was she supposed to get him to believe that Kate Argent, someone who was supposed to be dead, had set her house on fire? How was she supposed to lead him to any sort of information when she _knew_ that the fire had something to do with the supernatural? "I was ten when I left home, I don't know anything. Maybe my parents had enemies, maybe someone had it out for my family, I don't know that, I was a kid, there was no way that I _should_ know that."

"Hey no one's accusing you of anything."

"Okay." She nodded. "I didn't mean to…I just, I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

"For starters, you can go back to where you're staying and take care of yourself. We'll do all we can here, I promise you that. I'm not going to give up until I figure out what happened and if we can conclude that someone started the fire for sure, things _will_ change."

"I get it."

"I am _really _sorry that you have to go through this. No one deserves to lose their house."

"It _was_ my _home_." She sighed.

Sydney pressed her lips together into a thin line and held the stuffed wolf against her chest. She glanced up at him and felt her body relax the tiniest little bit at the charming smile on his face. She knew that it was meant for her and her alone and the more time she spent with this man, this incredible Deputy Parrish, the more she felt that he'd be a good friend to have.

"Okay." She mumbled and slowly pulled away from him, breaking his hold on her. "Thank you."

"Look if you ever need anything, you can call me, okay? Even if it's just to talk or cry, see if you need a good cry I can bring the Kleenex."

Sydney lifted her hand up and gently pressed her palm against his jaw. He tilted his head against her warm, smooth touch and nodded at her, a silent understanding now present between them.

"I'll talk to you later." She smiled and slowly pulled her hand away from him.

Deputy Parrish locked his eyes on her and watched as she turned away from him and headed back in the direction of her car. He couldn't help but wonder if there was more to the girl than she was letting on. Something about her had him hooked, had him wanting to know more about her and he wasn't going to let her case fall to the back of the pile. Sydney Vance deserved justice and he was going to try his damndest to get it for her.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Alright, here we have some more Sydney and Parrish, they're turning out to be pretty cool friends, don't you think? And how do you guys feel about Peter not getting insanely jealous (not yet at least)?_**

**_Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts! _**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**_Luna888: In another world, oh yes, I definitely agree, they'd be pretty amazing together!_**

**__****__****_SarcasticEnigma_****_: Sheriff totally needs a daughter, even if she's adopted lol! How did you like the Syd/Parrish interaction this chapter?_**

**__****_LirealAion: The Stilinski family is a great one and I think she'd fit well in their lives! Syd and Parrish, together, romantically...uh not while Peter's around. Thanks so much for the review!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Stiles and Sydney as bro and sis, wow I don't think the world would be able to handle that. Syd and Parrish, brotp, oh yeah, I just love those two as buddies. Can't you just see them as the pair of friends who would sit and watch a football game (or something) drinking beer and eating nachos? Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	10. Chapter 10

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 10****:**

Sydney had called Derek shortly after getting out of the shower the next morning and, contrary to Peter's belief that a phone call would generally suffice, she had quickly found out that her phone call to Derek wouldn't suffice at all. He had asked Sydney if she minded making her way over to the loft and she did exactly that. She threw her boots on, grabbed her car keys and left the apartment with Peter tagging along.

It had been an almost awkward silence between the three of them. Sydney knew how much tension was built up between the two Hales but she didn't care. Derek was her best friend, someone that she'd always be there for. Peter was her mate and she wasn't going to leave his side. They'd just have to learn to share her attention, especially when it came down to things like this, things like negotiations with crazy mercenaries.

Braeden's facial scars were just as prominent as ever as she sat across from the three of them, Sydney sandwiched between Derek and Peter, her eyes locked on the beautiful, yet scary, woman sitting in the chair directly in her line of sight. She still didn't trust Braeden and she probably never would because no matter how many times the hard-core mercenary bailed her and Scott out of sticky situations, the uneasy feeling in her gut was still there. She wasn't about to take her eyes off the woman.

Tucking her legs up under her bum, she created extra height to her body hoping that her intimidation tactics were working. Peter slipped an arm around her back and shoved her back down so that her butt was flush against the cushions beneath her. Sydney let out a low growl at his actions but kept her eyes locked on the woman across from her.

"This one." Braeden pointed a finger in Sydney's direction. "I don't get how she fits with you two."

Derek rolled his shoulders and met Braeden's questioning gaze, a pair of aviator sunglasses held firmly in his hand. Sydney scoffed, as though the mercenary had insulted her simply by stating her confusion. Maybe it was obvious only to those directly involved in her life but this woman had to know that Sydney was a decent asset, didn't she?

"She's pack." Derek answered flatly.

"Hey, I'm not _just_ pack." Sydney shot back and finally tore her eyes off of Braeden. Peter gripped her hip tighter, his action signaling that he wanted her to just stay quiet, to not give away anything more than she had to. She was an alpha, which was something Braeden didn't need to know. She was Peter's mate, another thing Braeden didn't need to know. All the mercenary _needed_ to know was that she was part of their lives via the supernatural side of things.

"She one of McCall's betas?" Braeden pressed and directed her attention solely towards Derek, as though Sydney weren't sitting five feet away from her.

"Um excuse me, I'm right here." Sydney waved her hand in front of her. "And no I'm not one of _Scott's betas_."

"She's pack; let's just leave it at that." Derek nodded forcefully and Sydney opened her mouth, immediately falling silent as Peter's claws pierced her skin, shutting her up instantly before she had a chance to reveal anything more.

"Well aren't _you_ one of McCall's betas?" Braeden smirked and leaned forward on her chair, locking her eyes onto Derek's.

"Look lady, mind your own business." Sydney broke in and wiggled her hips slightly, forcing Peter's claws out of her flesh. She could feel droplets of blood running along her exposed skin and soaking into her clothes. "Let's get on with this."

Braeden leaned back in the chair and lifted her one foot up, resting it on the small table that resided between them. Soon enough her other foot followed, crossing over the first at her ankle.

"The table's Italian." Peter pointed out, a disgusted tone to his voice. Sydney moved her hands down to where his claws had been and felt for blood. When she pulled her hand away, she was surprised at how quickly the wounds had healed.

"So are these boots." Braeden countered and Derek dropped his head down, clearly trying not to snicker at the battle of wits going on between the stranger and his uncle.

"You went all the way to Italy for those ugly things?" Sydney cocked her head to the side and looked at the mercenary defiantly, slipping her hand down and resting her palm against her thigh. Braeden simply tilted her head and rolled her eyes in response.

"Are we going to talk interior design and fashion or are we going to talk numbers?" Braeden moved the conversation forward, blatantly ignoring Sydney altogether. Apparently in her mind, Sydney didn't hold much pull, which was rather comical because she was the only one in the room with more than enough money to fund this whole job negotiation.

Derek stared at his reflection in the sunglasses and Sydney found herself wondering what was so amusing. It was just his reflection and although she'd never deny that Derek was an attractive man, she couldn't figure out why he was so caught up with his eyes.

Sydney stared at the woman across from her as Peter picked up the pen lying on the table and scribbled a number down on the piece of paper next to it. Sydney pulled her eyes away from the tough looking Braeden long enough to catch the amount that he had written down before he pushed it across the surface of the table for Braeden to see.

Braeden lifted it up, looked at the number and set the paper back down on the table. She took her own pen, put a heavy line through Peter's offer and scrawled down a number of her own, a higher number, a number that drew a growl out of Sydney. Derek's hand came to rest on the female alpha's shoulder as if he were attempting to calm her down.

Sydney shot Derek a glare but returned her attention to the table just in time to witness Peter flipping the paper around so that it was readable. She furrowed her brows at the girl's counter offer but looked at Peter, hoping that he knew what he was doing.

"We're hiring you to find Kate, not assassinate the president." Peter stated and Sydney leaned forward, fighting off the urge to bare her teeth. Derek's fingers dug into her shoulder and pulled her back, clearly sensing that maybe his childhood best friend would have been better off in a different room.

"I was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate. You're hiring me to find her first. Going against the Calaveras is what's going to cost you."

Sydney lifted her head up and let out a feral snarl. "If you know what's good for you, you'll-"

Derek had followed his uncle's lead and brought his claws to surface. Sydney stopped mid-sentence as his razor sharp talons ripped into the flesh on her shoulder, drawing blood instantaneously.

"Leave it alone." Derek muttered, leaving Sydney silent as she watched Peter draw out yet another offer.

She bit down on her tongue and leaned away from Derek, his claws pulling free from her flesh. She glanced at her shirt and growled at him, knowing that he had just intentionally ruined one of the few shirts she owned. Add that to the destroyed material on her hip and she was out an entire outfit. The Hales were going to pay.

Peter shoved the paper back towards Braeden and Sydney fidgeted with the torn material on her shoulder, trying to make it work, hoping that maybe, by some miracle, she could salvage her shirt and make the puncture holes double as a hip and cool design.

Braeden immediately shoved the paper back without even looking at it. Letting out an unamused groan, Peter threw his hands up in frustration before practically jumping off the couch. Sydney glowered at the mercenary but Derek had already pulled the paper towards him and ripped it in half.

"We'll pay." Derek stated and Sydney whipped her head around to glare at him, Peter doing the exact same thing from his standing position not too far away. "Just find Kate, that's all we want."

Braeden let her head drop to the one side, taking Derek's words as them making a deal with her. Sydney reached out and slugged Derek in the shoulder, causing him to sway sideways before he rose up to his feet, Braeden following his lead. She moved her feet off the table reluctantly and headed for the door.

Sydney watched as Peter followed her towards the large loft door, waiting for her to step out into the hallway before hauling the door shut angrily. Sydney winced at the slamming sound but clambered to her feet, jogging up next to Derek and stopping to stand next to him. Derek turned his back to Peter and leaned against the table in front of the window. Sydney pressed her butt against the edge and slipped up onto it, sitting with her legs dangling over the edge.

"Are you insane?!" Peter shouted and planted his hands on his hips. Sydney shook her head but quickly realized that he was irritated with Derek, not with her. Apparently her little outbursts were nothing compared to Derek and his undermining of Peter's offers.

"We didn't have a choice. We spent a week looking for her and came up with nothing." Derek countered calmly, apparently unfazed by Peter's angry outburst.

"If we don't find out who told Kate about the vault, we don't get those bonds back." Peter began marching towards them, although Sydney took notice that Peter's eyes were set on Derek and _only_ Derek. "What do you think I'm going to do then? Huh? Get a job? My resume is slightly out of date."

"Well that's easy enough to fix." Sydney murmured in an extremely lame attempt to make Peter feel like he didn't have to be as hostile towards Derek as he was currently being. "I can draft one up for you."

Peter shot a glare her way but turned his attention back to Derek, closing in on his nephew and coming to a stop right behind him.

"We got robbed Derek, robbed!" Peter reached his hand out and clamped it down on Derek's shoulder. She wasn't entirely sure if Peter pulled on it or if Derek had immediately gone into defensive mode at the pressure but either way, Derek spun around, broke Peter's grip on his shoulder and wrapped his hand around Peter's wrist. His teeth were sharp, his lips curled back and Sydney felt a shiver course through her entire body as Derek let out a deep, guttural roar, his eyes flickering in the process.

Wait a second though, Derek had killed an innocent, his eyes were supposed to be blue, like hers and Peter's but that wasn't blue in his eyes. No, his eyes were golden, the same colour as a werewolf who had yet to take an innocent life.

Sydney pushed herself off the table and moved to stand between the two males. She shoved at Derek's shoulder, desperately trying to get him to back off but he didn't budge.

"That's a new look for you." Peter pointed out and Derek finally ripped his hand away from Peter's wrist, Sydney immediately squishing herself between their bodies to keep them apart.

"The fuck is wrong with you." She grumbled and looked back and forth between them.

"What happened to your eyes?" Peter questioned and Derek's features seemed to go from wild and angry to lost and confused.

"I don't know, but I'm willing to pay to find out." Derek shot back.

"Did Kate do that?" Sydney asked, her voice now the only calm one in the room. "Did she change your eyes?"

"I said I don't know."

"But your eyes should be blue, not yellow." Sydney reached her hand up towards his face but he flinched, her hand dropping down to rest on her hip now. "No offense but I liked your blue eyes better."

"Syd, not now."

"I'm just saying, they were so much prettier-"

"Sydney." Peter ground out name out and she rolled her eyes at them both. Whatever was going on, whatever had happened to Derek, no one in the loft had any answers.

"Just so you know, Braeden may be able to find Kate but no one is going to stop me from ripping her to pieces." Sydney said and immediately stepped forward, removing her body from between them. She pranced forward, leaving Derek to face Peter head on now. Neither male said another word, instead, both of them turned their attention towards Sydney, watching her from behind as she sauntered away.

"She's pretty confident." Derek muttered.

"She's practically a Hale; I think it comes with the territory." Peter countered and moved to follow her lead. Derek shook his head at the two of them. Yes, Sydney was practically a Hale and he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

"Hey what did you want for dinner?" Sydney's voice carried out into the apartment from the bedroom shortly after her and Peter had arrived home. She had already gathered up the dirty laundry in the bedroom and was about ready to head down to the basement to wash them.

It was almost weird though, how easily domestication had come to her. She hadn't intended to wind up taking care of Peter, she had never intended to stay in his apartment much longer than a few weeks at most, yet here she still was, doing laundry for them both, cooking meals when they weren't out chasing other supernatural creatures, hell she was even grocery shopping when she had time to slip out and get to the store.

"Really? You're thinking about dinner during a time like this!" Peter called out back to her and Sydney rolled her eyes before stepping out of the bedroom and looking around for him. When her eyes landed on him, she shook her head at him. Once again, as usual, he was perched at the island, only this time instead of a book open in front of him, he was sitting in front of a laptop.

"Well you can't just stop eating because you got robbed." Sydney pointed out and closed the distance between her and him, hauling the laundry basket full of dirty clothes up onto the countertop next to the laptop. "Okay I guess technically you can but you're going to need to eat eventually, I think people generally tend to die of starvation when they don't consume some sort of sustenance."

Peter peeled his eyes off the laptop screen and simply glared at her. She didn't budge, she just stared right back at him, waiting for him to answer her question of 'what do you want for dinner'.

"Sydney now's not the time."

"In that case then I'm going to make myself a nice chicken parmesan, maybe some noodles…I'll leave you to worry about yourself then." She smirked and he let out a low growl at her. Okay so maybe she _did_ have a point, he _had _to eat eventually. He couldn't not eat and survive.

"What about lasagna?" Peter asked with a defeated sigh and watched bitterly as her smirk grew larger.

"I can do that, but only if you say please."

Peter ground his teeth together and slowly turned to face her head on. She just continued to smirk at him, knowing that he wasn't going to win this battle. Sydney reached her hand out and set it on the side of his neck, running her thumb along his jaw.

"Why are you constantly challenging me?" He asked, his tone softer than it had been mere seconds ago. Sydney shrugged at him and took a step forward, her body now inches away from his.

"I think you're forgetting the colour of your own eyes." She pointed out and lifted her hand off his neck, running it over his scalp, her fingers brushing through his hair. "You may have been the alpha before but you and I both know that you're not anymore."

Maybe she was pushing him a little too far. She had every right to, he had some illegitimate child out there and she was angry. She no longer cared as much about being equals; she was pissed off and maybe a little, scratch that- a lot, jealous of Malia. She wasn't going to just lie down and take it.

"You were the one who wanted to remain equals-"

"There it is. I was never your equal Peter. I was merely a pawn, especially in the beginning. I showed up looking for a place to stay, you saw an opportunity. Even when I first became an alpha you were constantly pointing out that it was about power. Well who's got the power now?" She shot back.

"You know what, on second thought, I'll get my own dinner." Peter grumbled and Sydney leaned forward, pressing her lips against his. He tensed at her actions but she just kissed him harder, pressing her chest against his, pinning him against the edge of the island. His own arms came around her back and he held on to her.

When Sydney leaned back, Peter's hold on her tightening, she smiled at him. Peter cocked his head to the side and studied her expression, waiting for her to flash her alpha red eyes at her. When her eyes didn't change, he leaned in and promptly placed a chaste little kiss on her lips.

"Lasagna it is." She nodded. "Any requests for dessert?"

"Not off the top of my head."

"Well that's good because I was thinking something special, maybe chocolate covered strawberries…and maybe chocolate covered Sydney…" She purred and felt his fingers tightening on her skin, his blunt nails biting into her flesh.

"We could just skip dinner and get to dessert _right_ now-"

"After laundry." Sydney giggled and pulled herself out of his grasp. She flashed him a cocky little grin, took hold of the laundry basket and sauntered out of the apartment, throwing an extra little swing in her steps as she went.

She didn't even bother to look back but it didn't matter, she heard the growl emanating from his throat, she could still hear the pounding of his heart. Yes she could easily get his heart beating faster and it meant the world to her. For as long as she could get Peter riled up, well, then there'd be a place for her in his bed.

Her steps turned into little hop-skips and she galloped down the stairs, making her way to the basement with her dirty laundry in tow. When she arrived on the concrete of the basements floor, she pranced towards the laundry room and took a deep inhale. Ah, just the icing on the cake.

The scent of Peter's neighbour Debbie from the apartment below them filled her nostrils and she recalled their last conversation. Debbie has asked Sydney all about Peter, whether he was single, what she was to him and whether or not he was gay. She had answered that he was single, at the time there were merely bed buddies, she was a friend and that he wasn't gay. Yes, things had definitely changed from that point in time to now.

"Sydney, right?" Debbie's friendly voice was laced with curiosity as Sydney sashayed into the laundry room, heading right for one of the washers nearest Debbie.

"Yes." She nodded. "And you're Debbie."

"Yeah! Hey it's good to see you again. I take it that you're still staying with that attractive Peter fellow."

"Oh yeah, still staying with him." Sydney nodded and set her laundry basket on top of the washer. She started grabbing hold of the items inside and tossing them into the washer. Debbie seemed to be watching her very carefully and when Sydney pulled out her clothes from Mexico, stained with dirt and a little bit of blood, the older woman furrowed her eyebrows.

"My, you're certainly…hard…on your clothes."

"Yeah, I'm into some pretty kinky things. It was hard to convince Peter to join me but once he got a taste of it, god, there was no way I could keep him away."

"Kinky things?" Debbie repeated the words cautiously and Sydney nodded her head.

"Bondage, that kind of thing. You know I really wouldn't have expected Peter to be so submissive but god when a woman gets all dominant towards him he just turns to goo." Sydney explained with a smirk. "You should really try it sometime Debbie, I could totally give you some pointers."

"Pointers?" Debbie echoed before she could even think about what she was saying.

"Handcuffs are my favourite but Peter just struggles so much sometimes that we've destroyed the finish on the bedframe." Sydney cooed and shoved the remainder of her clothes into the washing machine.

"Oh, I see. Well that's…that's interesting." Debbie nodded hesitantly. "I thought you had told me before that you and Peter were _just friends _though?"

"Things change." Sydney shrugged and Debbie stared at Sydney for a few seconds longer, watching carefully, clearly a little perturbed by the female alpha's presence. Sydney flashed her a mischievous smile and Debbie threw her hand up into the air and waved as she quickly scurried out of the room, leaving Sydney all alone with her thoughts. "Oh Debbie."

She dropped the lid of the washing machine down the slightest bit and held it there, taking hold of the laundry detergent and pulling it out of the bottom of her basket. She set the liquid detergent down on the neighbouring washer and reached around to the buttons at the back. Sydney made the right adjustments to the knobs and pulled the one out, nodding her approval as the washer slowly started to fill with water. She set the lid back, took the detergent and managed to pour a bit in before letting the lid slam shut.

By the time she had finished getting her laundry in the machine and going, she felt her phone vibrating against her hip. Sydney reached in and grabbed hold of the device, instantly answering the call from Stiles.

"Syd!?" Stiles' voice was like music to her ears. She adored the boy still and she hated not having much contact with him since they arrived back from Mexico.

"Yeah Stiles, what's up?"

"I need a favour."

"A favour, uh, sure." Sydney replied and leaned her butt against the front of the washing machine, the vibrations from the appliance flowed through her body.

"I need you to uh, to well, to talk to coach about keeping me and Scott on the team."

"The team?" Sydney countered, a confused tone to her voice. "What team?"

"Lacrosse!" Stiles shot back and let out a small sigh, clearly realizing how trivial a thing like lacrosse seemed to Sydney. "Look, I'll explain everything later but can you please just, just call coach and convince him to keep us on the team?"

"I will do what I can." She offered. "But I can't promise anything."

"That's all I ask!"

"Okay…"

"Anyways, I'll talk to you later, yeah later. Bye Syd!"

Sydney didn't even get a chance to say her own goodbye before Stiles hung up on her. She looked at the screen and debated her next move. She had leverage against the coach, she had his interest too which meant that all she had to do was figure out which way she was going to play this out.

Minutes later she dialed Coach Bobby Finstock's number and lifted the phone to her ear, listening to the thing ring. She waited, the phone ringing four times, for the man to pick up. When he finally did, she was almost surprised at his words.

"You paid my hospital bill!" He accused her and she froze, expecting a slightly warmer hello.

"I uh, yeah, yeah I did."

"I owe you-"

"Oh, you owe me. Huh well, then maybe there's something you can do for me, then we can talk about calling it even." She flipped the charm on and came up with her method of dealing with Stiles' request.

"Name it."

"Keep Stiles and his little friend McCall on the lacrosse team." She offered.

"That's it? You don't want a nice fancy dinner, or a bottle of tequila? A private showing of my coaching skills?"

"Not at this present moment." Sydney faked a chuckle. "Just make sure those two stay on the team, okay?"

"Uh, okay, if you're sure that's all-"

"That's all." Sydney cut him off. "Thanks for the chat _Bobby_."

"Oh yeah, no problem, any time-"

"I've got to go; I'll talk to you later."

"Right-"

"Goodbye Bobby." She purred and pressed the 'end call' button on her phone. She dropped her hand down to her side and shoved her phone back into her pocket. A smile slowly spread across her face but when the distinct sound of someone clearing their throat was heard from behind her, she jumped and let out a small yelp of surprise.

"That sounded like an interesting conversation, I only caught the end but it sounded truly…riveting." Peter murmured as he stepped into the laundry room, glancing back behind him as he closed in on her. "I also ran into that wonderful Debbie on the way down here. She asked me all about how much those pesky handcuffs _really_ damaged my bed."

"Huh. Yeah. Well see Bobby Finstock owed me a favour so I called it in. As for Debbie, she uh, she needs to learn to mind her own business."

Peter wandered towards her, eliminating any and all space between their bodies. He pinned her against the washer as he reached down and grabbed roughly at her hips. She looked up at him and let out a gasp as he hauled her up, placing her butt on top of the running washer.

"For future reference, don't call me submissive, _ever_ again." He growled and nipped at the base of her neck. She went rigid in his hold but not because she was scared. There was no way that he didn't know exactly what he was doing to her. Heart pounding, blood pumping through her veins, hell even her breathing was rapid; she was definitely turned on.

"Then you better prove to me how _dominant_ you can be."

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Well, Sydney and Braeden do not like each other. How about the Sydney/Derek interactions, how'd you like that? And what do you think Peter meant exactly when he said that 'Sydney was practically a Hale'? _**

**_Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts! _**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**__****__****_SarcasticEnigma_****_: Uh oh, Syrrish vs. Syder! Their relationship won't be all smooth sailing..._**

**__****__****_OutlawqueenFTW: Who wouldn't fall in love with Sydney haha, plus she's legal (unlike certain Banshees)..._**

**__****__****_cecld16: The story will follow season 4 fairly closely with minor changes, don't worry though, Peter still gets his butt kicked_**

**__****_poorxbrokexcollegexkid: He cares about her! The sheriff and Syd would make a great team!_**

**__****_LirealAion: Liam's in the next chapter woohoo! _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	11. Chapter 11

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 11:**

Sydney wasn't entirely pleased about the phone call that she had received from Stiles, especially not on the night before the full moon. With the full moon not too far away she had gotten it in her head to stick close to Peter so that when her lustful urges came to surface he'd be able to take care of her in the privacy of the apartment, she hardly wanted to be stuck running around town doing god knows what. So when her phone rang, with Stiles' name flashing across the screen, she had tried to ignore the incessant ringing but Peter had looked at her curiously and told her to answer it, after all, she was the perfect candidate to get the inside scoop. Stiles still trusted her, she hadn't done anything to break his trust _yet_, and he'd give her all the information that she'd need, which she could then pass on to Peter if it seemed important.

Neither one of them had been expecting Stiles to tell them that Scott had bitten a fifteen-year-old boy in an effort to save him from plunging to his death off the roof of the hospital. No not at all, that had completely shocked her, and Peter for that matter. Sydney had quickly offered up her services and Peter, much to her surprise, had let her go to help the two boys out without any fuss at all. He must have had something else in mind though, she knew he wasn't just letting her go simply out of the kindness of his heart. Maybe he figured she'd gain some more valuable insight into Scott's pack, but it didn't matter to her, she'd do almost anything for Stiles. Sydney had quickly taken off with the promise to get back by Peter's side as soon as she possibly could.

When she pulled up outside of Scott's house, Stiles was _just_ making his way up to the front door of the McCall residence and she quickly called out to him, catching his attention immediately. Stiles paused on the front walkway and waited for her to jog up alongside him before he resumed walking towards the door of the house and ultimately to his best friend's aid.

"What's this kid's name again?" Sydney questioned as she dropped back slightly, falling in stride just behind Stiles as he closed the distance between them and the front door. She watched in awe as he pushed it open and simply stepped into the house. Stiles didn't seem alarmed or surprised that Scott was already waiting for them just inside.

"Liam." Stiles answered and Scott lifted his hand up and waved at her, acknowledging her presence. She tossed him a small smile in return but got right down to business.

"Liam, fifteen-years-old and you bit him so that he wouldn't fall multiple stories to the pavement and turn into a human pancake, right?" Sydney asked more for confirmation than anything. Stiles had told her as much as he knew when he called and she had gotten enough out of him to realize that Scott hadn't planned on biting the kid; he only sunk his teeth into his flesh as a last resort so that the kid, who was named Liam apparently, didn't die.

"Uh yeah, pretty much." Scott nodded.

"You know this isn't going to be easy." Sydney pointed out and Scott motioned for them to follow his lead. "You've just made your life so much more complicated. I mean a beta, that is _your_ responsibility, training him to control the shift, the full moon, which is _tomorrow_ night, am I right?"

"I've already talked to my dad; he said that Derek was going to be on the scene, they'll figure something out."

"Wait, the scene? What do you mean the scene? You were on the roof and you saved this kid, what type of scene could there possibly be?" Sydney broke in and looked between the two boys a frustrated expression taking over her features.

"Well there may potentially be a dead kid on the roof still." Scott offered up reluctantly and Sydney's eyes widened at his admission. Stiles hadn't mentioned anything about another kid, especially a dead one, when he had called her. This new information was a surprise to her, which was evident by the look of shock on her face.

"If he's dead, did _you_ kill him?" Sydney questioned.

Scott shook his head no but that didn't _really_ answer the question she had really wanted to ask. If Scott didn't kill this other kid, well then who did? And why?

"We've got bigger things to worry about." Stiles interjected but Sydney settled a glare on him, clearly she needed the facts and she wasn't about to be too cooperative without them.

"Why is there _another_ dead kid on the roof? Who is he?"

"Shawn…he went after Liam. He was a, uh, he was a wendigo." Scott answered nervously and Sydney let out a huff before she threw her hands into the air in frustration.

Who the heck had put these teenagers in charge of the entire supernatural goings on in Beacon Hills? She made a mental note to have a talk with Derek about where the fate of the supernatural now resided, which was right in the palm of Scott's hands apparently. Oh yes, the werewolf population was screwed if things didn't start getting better taken care of.

"A wendigo, really, Jesus. Okay. So you told your dad that this kid was a wendigo?" Sydney sighed and set her sights on Stiles. She fell in step behind Scott as he led them towards the stairs.

"Like I said, I told my dad everything I _could_." Stiles shot back, implying that his father had been informed that this Shawn kid was, evidently, a wendigo.

"But you didn't tell him about Liam?" Scott piped up and continued through the house. Sydney followed behind them quickly, desperate to lay her sights on Scott McCall's newest beta.

"You barely told _me_ about Liam. What did you do with him anyway?" Stiles replied and asked Scott what Sydney was already thinking. If there was a freshly bitten teenager, then what had Scott done with him?

"He's upstairs." Scott replied and they rounded the corner coming to a stop at the bottom of the staircase.

"Doing what?" Stiles asked cautiously and Sydney dropped her gaze to the floor, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"Lying down." Scott answered innocently and Stiles' face suddenly looked like it was going to explode.

"Oh my dear fuck. What have you gotten yourself into? What did you drag _us_ into?" Sydney muttered and planted her hands on her hips. She adored Stiles, really she did and Scott was starting to grow on her but babysitting the two of them _plus_ a freshly bitten teenager was not something that she had been planning on doing that night, especially not this close to the full moon.

Sydney trudged along behind them as Scott mounted the stairs first, Stiles right behind him. She fought off the urge to growl at the idiocy of Scott and his rash decisions but decided that maybe she should lay off the kid. After all, he was generally a very nice, decent guy and she had no reason to believe that he honestly didn't have any other choice. If he didn't bite this Liam kid then maybe he would have really died, who was she to judge?

Scott continued to lead the way up the stairs and when they were all standing on the hardwood floor at the top, he turned towards a bedroom; a bedroom that Sydney figured belonged to Scott. It definitely smelled like him and it certainly looked like a room a teenage boy would live in. She figured that since there wasn't anyone else currently in the house that the only place he'd really feel comfortable hiding a kidnapping victim would be in his own room, it just made the most sense.

She followed them into the attached bathroom and sucked in a breath as Scott eagerly pulled the shower curtain back revealing a handsome, young, blonde kid wrapped in duct tape from head to toe, a special piece of tape covering his mouth to keep him from screaming out. The kid started bouncing with anticipation and let out a few muffled cries but Sydney couldn't make out any words, apparently the tape was doing what it was supposed to. Stiles glowered at Scott but reached out and grabbed the edge of the curtain, slowly pulling it back across so that Liam was out of their view and back into hiding.

The three of them marched out of the bathroom and when they were close enough, the two boys collapsed onto the bed in the connected room. Sydney stood in front of them, her arms crossed over her chest and a glare on her face, as she studied their expressions. She took a big sniff of the air and fought off the urge to sigh. So it didn't take a genius to figure out that Scott was a little nervous, she would be too if she was in his position. Not only did he bite someone but he had kidnapped that someone too and bound the kid with duct tape. Things weren't looking so good for true alpha Scott McCall.

Stiles glanced up at her and met her gaze but once he felt her glare on him, he quickly moved his eyes off of her but kept his gaze trained upwards. Scott, however, looked downwards, his eyes landing on Sydney's feet. She could easily feel the tension in the room and wondered what the hell Scott was going to do now.

"So you bit him…" Stiles started off, the only one brave enough to break the silence that had fallen over the three of them.

"Yeah." Scott sighed.

"And you kidnapped him…"

"Yeah."

"And brought him here…"

"I panicked."

"Obviously." Sydney muttered. "Stupid boys."

"Yup." Stiles paused and sucked his lips in, letting them relax as they made a high pitched squelching sound. "This isn't going to end with us burying the pieces of his body out in the desert, is it?"

Everyone's heads turned towards the bathroom, Sydney almost feeling sorry for the kid tied up in the bathtub as his muffled cries of distress echoed out into the room, louder than before. Had he heard them talking about burying pieces of his body? She couldn't be certain but it didn't matter anyways. This wasn't really _her_ problem.

She wasn't sure what Scott had been thinking but in his panicked state the best idea he could come up with was to take the kid to his house? Didn't he have somewhere else, _anywhere_ else to hide a kidnapped teenager? She fought back a snort at the idea that if Scott were anything like Derek, he should have had a million places to hide a fifteen-year-old teenager.

"For fuck's sake. He's fine." Sydney grumbled and threw her head back with a scoff. "We're not going to the desert tonight okay? He's not bleeding out, he's not weakening or anything so I think it's safe to assume that he's probably not going to die."

"Not yet anyways." Stiles pointed out and she locked her eyes on him, letting out a small feral growl in the process. "Okay, well, we should look at this as a reminder. See this is why I always come up with the plans. Your plans suck."

"I know, which is why I called you." Scott countered defensively.

"And this is why I called Syd." Stiles added quickly and both boys looked up at her. She pressed her lips together in an attempt to stay calm. If she was calm maybe she could figure out a way to get them out of this entire mess, if she was calm, she was less likely to knock some sense into them, literally.

"So, what do we do?" Scott looked from Stiles to Sydney and then back to Stiles. Sydney uncrossed her arms, rolled her shoulders back and prepared to open her mouth.

"We need to explain to him what's going on." She suggested and the two of them looked at her in awe for actually suggesting something that made sense. "There will be no hurting him of any kind if you can help it, this is a fragile situation and needs to be treated as such. Now, do either of you have any ideas? Maybe if you come up with _something_ we can brainstorm from there."

"We could uh, we could tie him to a chair, at least that way he'll have to listen." Stiles countered.

"Okay, right, that's…probably the best idea that I can come up with too." Sydney nodded. "So then let's go get a chair and get Liam in it, sound good?"

"I'll go grab a chair." Scott volunteered.

"We'll take care of Liam." Sydney replied and found herself wondering if this is what being an alpha really felt like. She wasn't trying to take charge but Scott didn't seem to be doing very well on his own and Stiles, well, she'd definitely feel safer if Stiles laid off playing the role of 'Scott's little helper' when it came to werewolves, especially unpredictable ones.

Scott nodded his understanding and quickly took off out of the room in a run. Sydney looked at Stiles and simply shook her head at him in a disapproving manner. She was tired, she was antsy and all she really wanted to do was to get back to the apartment and get Peter in bed so that she could work off some of her pre-full moon lust. She didn't figure her night was going to go that smoothly though, not with Scott and Stiles making the commands.

"Hey, thanks for coming." Stiles murmured and Sydney let out a soft sigh. She wasn't about to say no to helping him, not when there was something about him that kept her intrigued. She couldn't help but feel better about herself when Stiles called her and asked if she could help. She felt useful, more so than she felt with Peter.

"Always." She breathed the word out.

"Let's go get Liam." Stiles announced, tossed her a sad little smile and rose up to his feet. Sydney rolled her eyes at him but followed along right behind him into the bathroom.

Stiles whipped the curtain back and Sydney leaned down, maneuvering her hands around the kid so that she could lift him out of the tub as easily as she could, not that Stiles was weak by any means but she was a werewolf which meant that she had werewolf strength. She could definitely lift the kid easier than he could, swifter too.

Stiles took a step back, watching as Sydney struggled momentarily to get the kid, who was shaking, squirming and crying out, into her arms. By the time she had managed to lift him out of the tub, still wiggling like an earth worm in her hold, Scott had returned to the bedroom with a chair, which was now sitting right in the middle of the floor. A roll of duct tape hung from Scott's fingers and Sydney locked her eyes on his, manhandling the poor kid so that his butt landed firmly in the chair, Liam letting out a grunt of pain as his body connected with the piece of furniture.

Scott quickly wrapped a fresh piece of duct tape around the kid's upper body as Sydney let go of him, taking a step back to admire their handy work. He wasn't even secured to the chair yet but it would seem that he wasn't going to go anywhere.

"I think we can probably hold off on using any more duct tape." Sydney pointed out as she took a couple more steps back, letting Stiles and Scott form a barrier in front of her.

The kid sat helplessly in the chair glaring up at the three of them but Sydney flashed him a sardonic smile, watching him struggle against his restraints. It would have been comical had she not gotten herself involved. In her eyes it was about time that Scott had to work for something and maybe she was still slightly jealous that he was a 'true alpha', she had to work her butt off for most of her life to get to the point where she was at that moment. Scott got everything handed to him in Sydney's eyes.

"Liam, we're going to take the tape off your mouth." Stiles moved his hand out and pointed at the young boy. "If you scream, it goes right back on. If you talk quietly, it stays off. Got it? Okay."

Liam nodded his understanding and Stiles looked at Scott to do the honours. Scott just stared blankly back at Stiles but before either one of them could make a move towards Liam, Sydney stepped around them, grabbed hold of the edge of the tape on the kid's mouth and ripped it off. Liam let out another grunt of pain as she did so but, to her surprise, remained quiet.

"You're okay." Sydney murmured and gave him a reassuring pat on his knee. "No one's here to hurt you."

Sydney backed away from him, balled the tape up in her hands and tossed it at the bed before taking up her place next to Stiles.

"Okay, Liam, now you've seen a lot of confusing things tonight." Stiles began speaking and Sydney just basked in the feeling that this whole thing was going to go terribly, terribly wrong. "And more confusing things are going to happen because of the confusing things that happened tonight. Do you understand?"

"Not really." Liam answered, his voice rough and his throat clearly raw from crying out.

"Good, that's good." Stiles continued pointing at Liam.

"I don't understand either." Scott interjected and Sydney looked at Scott and Stiles, silently wondering how they even got this far in the plan without serious help, in fact she started to wonder how they had made it this far in life.

"Liam, trust me okay, you're going to be fine, these two will make sure of it. I know they look like complete idiots-"

"What- hey!" Stiles objected but Sydney growled at him and he backed away from her, clearly aware of what she was capable of when provoked.

"But they're good guys."

"Okay, that…maybe you should tell him then." Stiles replied and looked at Sydney. She shook her head no; there was no reason why she should ever have to explain to someone else's beta what was going on. It wasn't going to happen and with that, Stiles looked over to Scott. "Okay then maybe _you_ should tell him."

"Tell me what?" Liam demanded, clearly the kid had grown impatient and if Sydney was completely honest, she understood his frustration. She couldn't imagine being bitten, then kidnapped and bound in duct tape, none of that would warrant a calm demeanour.

"Liam, what happened to you, what I did to you, which I had to do in order to save you, it's going to change you."

"Unless it kills you." Stiles broke in, waving his hands out in front of him. Sydney let out another low growl, obviously irritated by the entire situation, but more specifically the way Stiles was handling it. "Shouldn't have said that."

"What?" The kid breathed out the word and Sydney rolled her eyes. Leave it to a bunch of guys to screw up a situation that clearly needed to be handled delicately. The poor kid dropped his head down and Sydney sucked in a breath at the unmistakeable sounds of crying. If she was completely honest though, she wasn't going to be able to handle a crying teenager any better than Scott and Stiles, tears were one of the few things that acted as her kryptonite.

"Uh. Uh-oh. Oh-oh. Is he- Is he crying?" Stiles asked and Scott crouched down the slightest little bit.

"Jesus! I said it before and I'll say it again; it's very unlikely that he's going to die if he's survived this long already." Sydney cut in. "Liam, it's fine. Stiles doesn't know what the hell he's doing."

"Liam, it's okay. You're going to be all right. You're not going to die." Scott added in a soothing tone.

"Probably not." Stiles threw in and crouched down now too. Sydney rolled her shoulders back to help her remain calm.

"Stop it." Scott shot back.

"Okay, possibly not."

"He's not going to die, Jesus. If he was going to die, he'd be in much worse condition. Now, Liam," Sydney gently shoved Scott and Stiles out of the way and leaned forward. "Liam you're going to be fine."

"How about-"

"Would you just help me untie him?" Scott cut Stiles off and the two boys moved forward, each of them taking a side and ripping through the duct tape, setting Liam free. Sydney took a step back, knowing that something bad was going to happen, and she just watched, waiting for their entire plan to unravel in front of her very eyes.

"Liam, you okay?" Scott's voice was full of genuine concern.

"We're sorry about that. We're really sorry."

Sydney watched in amusement as Liam stood up from his seat and twisted his body around, taking hold of the sides of the chair. She bit back a laugh and just watched from out of the kid's reach as he turned around and swung the chair at Scott, shattering the piece of furniture into pieces over the alpha's body.

"Liam, can you just…stop?" Sydney let her words fade out, she didn't really care what the kid did now, whatever he was planning was sure to be a grand ole show for her to watch. She debated lunging for him but decided to just stay off to the side and let Scott McCall, true alpha extraordinaire, deal with his own situation.

Scott fell to the ground and Stiles stumbled but stopped moving as he fell against a dresser. Stiles took a step towards the kid and Sydney moved closer to them now too. Watching Scott get hit with the chair was funny but Stiles wasn't a werewolf, he didn't have super healing abilities, he needed to be protected.

"Liam, what the hell is your-"

Before Stiles could finish his sentence, Liam had wound up and socked Stiles in the face, sending Stiles flying backwards and away from the violent teen. Sydney stood frozen in shock at the kid's actions and debated what her next move was going to be: should she try to get Liam under control or should she try to make sure Stiles was okay?

"Liam!" She shouted and stepped towards him but the little bugger had taken off into the hallway, stumbling but remaining on his feet as he rounded the corner.

Sydney followed the two boys out of the room, Stiles holding onto his face and Scott rubbing the sore spots on his body. The three of them stood at one end of the hall while Liam stood at the other, looking at them, waiting for their next move. Sydney's eyes locked on the window and she simply shook her head, letting her body relax. There was no way she was going to be a part of this, not if there was potential for them to end up going through the window.

"Get him!" One of the boys cried out and before she had a chance to stop them, Scott and Stiles took off in a run at the kid standing frozen in fear at the end of the hall.

Screams filled the hallway and she cringed as they got to him, tackling him and bringing him to the ground. She had expected the window to crumble around them as they went soaring through but the glass remained intact, in fact, the entire hallway seemed fine. The two of them had managed to wrangle Liam to the side, right down the flight of stairs.

Sydney surged forward and descended the steps quickly, but she stopped and stood on the bottom step, watching as the three boys struggled in each other's hold.

Grunts of pain and shoutings of 'I got him' were all that she heard as the three of them continued to wrestle at the base of the steps. She shook her head and muttered 'boys' but dropped down next to the dog pile and tried to pull them a part. By the time the excitement had died down, all that was left at the base of the stairs was Stiles and Scott who were holding on to each other's legs.

The front door of the house swung open and Sydney straightened up, planting her hands on her hips and watching in awe as Liam took off running down the street. She hopped over them and stepped outside but decided against it. She didn't feel like running and she knew that the kid wasn't going to stop for her anyways. It was a futile endeavor.

"Your plan sucked too." Scott remarked and Sydney shook her head.

"Call me if you need me." She muttered and bounded down the front sidewalk.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Home, I've got better things to do Stiles. See you later Scott." She lifted her hand into the air and waved at them. Stiles was reduced to watching as Sydney hopped into her car and sped off into the night, leaving them to deal with the problem on their own.

"What are we going to do?" Scott questioned but Stiles didn't say a word. He didn't have the answer.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_And now Sydney and Liam had met! How do you guys think their relationship will go? Friends? Enemies? Do you think Sydney will help Scott teach Liam about the supernatural?_**

**_Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts! _**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**__****__****_WickedlyMinx_****_: See what happens? And take away from your imagination? Thanks for the review :P _**

**__****__****_cecld16: Scott will totally still get his chance to shine while he tries to kick Peter's butt, I would never take that away from Scott. Thanks for the review!_**

**__****__****_poorxbrokexcollegexkid: the best OC ever? Well that's an honour to hear! Anyone who is in competition for her boys (Derek included) will always be an enemy. She is very territorial over her loved ones, which there seem to be more and more of._**

**__****__****_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Pratically a Hale indeed! He's definitely thinking long term with her, let's just hope that he doesn't let his thirst for power get in the way! Debbie, yes that poor woman :P Thanks so much for the review!_**

**__****_LirealAion: LIAM! How did you like Liam? I promise he'll be back in a few more chapters too! Thanks for the review, I hope you enjoyed the long awaited Liam chapter!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	12. Chapter 12

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 12:**

Peter had called her in the car; he had called her and asked her if she could meet him at Derek's loft. Sydney wasn't entirely sure _why_ she needed to meet him at Derek's place but that didn't stop her mind from wandering to the table, the all too familiar table that resided near the window. Just the thought of sitting on the table and waiting for Peter to take her clothes off put a smile on her face and she knew that she wasn't going to question him on why, yet again, he found himself at Derek's loft while Derek himself wasn't there.

By the time she pulled into the small parking lot, she could already smell her mate. Sydney wandered into the building and took off in a run for the stairs. Oh yes, the moon wasn't even full yet and she was already feeling the effects of it. Her heart was pounding slightly faster than it usually did, her blood was flowing so much that she could almost feel it filling up the veins in her body, there was a sensation of butterflies in her stomach and a smile graced her face.

She climbed the rest of the stairs and paused at the top of the landing, her eyes falling on Peter, who was leaning against the wall just outside the door holding some sort of papers in his hand. He met her gaze and cocked his head to the side, watching curiously as she sauntered forward, moving across the floor swiftly before taking her place in front of him, leaning against him.

"What are you doing?" He questioned but ran his free hand through her hair, tangling his fingers in her luscious brown locks and tugging so that her head tilted back the slightest bit.

"You called and told me to meet you here…so that's what I'm doing." She purred and leaned forward, trying to kiss him. He turned his head away from her and she let out a groan at his actions.

"We really need to work on your full moon control." Peter remarked and she felt a growl forming in her throat. "Hold on, I didn't mean because-"

"I think you should seriously just be grateful that I haven't ripped your face off yet." She grumbled and pushed her hands against his chest, forcing her body backwards, away from his while a glare settled on her face. "And for your information, I don't want to work on my 'full moon control'; I just want to be fucked-"

"There are bigger things to be concerned with." Peter cut her off curtly and she rolled her eyes at him. "Not that you, yourself, aren't important."

"It's fine." She nodded.

"What exactly did Scott need your help for anyways? Besides having to deal with turning a teenager that is." Peter questioned and Sydney reached out and took hold of his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. She caught a glimpse of the papers but couldn't figure out what they were, what they meant or why he was carrying them.

"So get this," she started and tugged on his hand, Peter pushing himself off the wall in the process, "Scott had to bite this kid to keep him from plunging to his death from the roof of the hospital. Basically it was either bite the kid, who's a cocky little shithead by the way, or let him die."

"God forbid Scott not do the right thing." Peter scoffed.

"Right! So his brilliant plan after the fact was to kidnap this little bastard, wrap him up in duct tape and shove him in the bathtub while he called Stiles and waited for the cavalry to arrive. I swear those two idiots would barely survive if they didn't have horseshoes lodged up their asses."

"You paint a very vivid picture."

"Hush because that's not even the best part!" Sydney lifted her free hand up into the air and waved it around. "This little douchebag starts crying so Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum decide to take the tape off him, they just- they let him get free!"

"So then what happened?" Peter egged her on, a smug smirk growing on his face, clearly entertained by her story.

"Shocker, the kid goes absolutely ape shit! He breaks a chair over Scott, punches Stiles in the face and makes a break for it! He froze up when he got out into the hall but then the dream team rushes out after him and charges at the poor kid. By this point I'm trying to stay out of the way you know, like this isn't my beta, therefore it's not _my_ problem." Sydney explained.

"Which it's not." Peter nodded in agreement.

"They tackled him, took him down a flight of stairs. I don't even understand how they could have screwed up _that_ badly."

Peter reached their arms around his back and set her hand on his side before slipping his own hand out of her hold and sliding it over her shoulders. She dropped her head down and rested it against his shoulder before letting out a sigh. It had definitely been an eventful night and she was glad that Peter seemed so interested, even if it was for his own satisfaction, but she hadn't even told him the important piece of information that she had managed to snag.

"Where's the beta now?" Peter questioned and glanced down at her. She fought off the urge to grin.

"Needless to say, the entire plan went awry and now no one knows where this kid is."

"Well like you said, it's not _your _problem." Peter echoed her words from earlier.

"I think you should know though, according to Scott, there was a dead kid on the roof of the hospital after all was said and done. I guess he's the reason Liam, the little shithead, was up there to start with."

"Okay and what is the relevance of that little piece of information?"

"Apparently this dead kid was a wendigo." Sydney answered and looked at Peter with a worried expression on her face. "A wendigo Peter, what the fuck is a wendigo doing here?"

"I think the better question is what _was _a wendigo doing here. I wouldn't worry about it now Sydney, he's dead."

"But you're not concerned with _why_ he's dead now? Who killed him? Did they _know _he was a wendigo? Are these not things you're concerned about? For real?"

Peter didn't even bother answering her. He peeled his arm off her, closed the distance to the loft door and reached out, pulling it open. He ushered her inside and followed closely behind her, hauling the door shut again and reaching out with his fist to punch at the security system button.

"Derek, you here?" Peter called out loudly and glanced back at Sydney as he strode forward, making his way into the loft. Sydney hung back by the door and inhaled. No, she couldn't get a lock on Derek's scent, which meant that he most likely wasn't home but there was something else, some other unfamiliar odour lingering in the air.

"Peter hold up." She tossed the words out but Peter seemed to ignore her, continuing to make his way deeper into the heart of the loft.

"Derek!" Peter hollered again and Sydney watched in horror as a flying ax lodged itself right in the middle of his chest, pinning one of the papers to Peter as he struggled to breathe.

She hung back, trying to figure out where the ax had come from, wondering if she was in danger now too. Peter dropped to his knees and Sydney didn't hesitate for another second as she surged forward, getting to Peter's side at the same time as the stranger did.

Her eyes bugged out of her head and she stared at the large man hovering over Peter, who had managed to get himself down onto his back. She took a step forward and stood next to Peter's side, forcing her claws and canines to come out, preparing for a fight.

"Derek…" Peter rasped and Sydney's entire body tensed. Something was wrong, something was desperately wrong. There was no way a simple ax wound would cause that much damage.

Sydney studied the stranger and let out a low growl as the man reached his hand up. She studied his arms, his legs, his torso and deduced that this was going to be one hell of a fight. He was big but she was spry. It wasn't until she watched him punch his fingers against something on his other arm that she grew confused.

"Don't worry, Peter. Derek's next." The robotic voice echoed in the empty loft but Sydney's eyes were wide with surprise and locked on his face where there was clearly a lack of a mouth.

"What the fuck?" She mumbled and the man reached back, seemingly searching for another weapon to take her down with too.

Before either one of them knew what was happening, the ax came at the man from behind Sydney and she curled her body off to the side, getting out of the way as the ax flew a little bit further through the air, the strange mouthless man taking hold of it out of midair and readying it for a fight.

Sydney glanced back at Peter, who had managed to get himself into a sitting position, before she flashed her alpha red eyes at him.

"You couldn't have just left well enough alone?" She growled and dropped her body down into a crouch, her eyes immediately back on the mute in front of her, who was poised and readying himself to throw the ax back in their direction, only he was clearly aiming for her this time.

The stranger moved his hand back and wound up, throwing the ax forward. Sydney dropped to her knees to avoid getting impaled but that didn't deter her. She dug her heels into the floor and pushed herself forward, running right at the invader. Her arms went around his waist and she hauled him to the ground, desperate to get her claws into him, to wound him, to _kill_ him. She could feel the wolf inside trying to claw its way out and seconds later she let it loose.

Her eyes glowed red, her teeth were bared and her claws moved at the man in an attempt to hurt the strange man in Derek's loft. She rolled him onto his back and wrapped her hands around his neck, her fingers pressing into the skin, claws piercing through his epidermis.

Mouthless man reached his hands up and shoved her in the chest, sending Sydney flying backwards. Her butt collided with the hard floor and she let out a grunt of pain. With a quick glance back, she was able to catch sight of Peter trying to make his way to his feet. She clambered into an attack stance and surged forward, taking the lead away from Peter as she lunged at the stranger yet again, who had also managed to make his way to his feet.

She wrapped her arms around the stranger's waist and held him off as Peter fought against him. She felt Mouthless, her unofficial name for the guy, tense and jerk and figured that Peter was trying to attack as best as he could with a festering ax wound in his chest.

Sydney felt the man go limp in her hold and let go as his body slumped to the ground. She hesitated for all of two seconds before launching her foot at him, laying a massive kick right to Mouthless' chest. He made no noise and she wasn't entirely sure he felt it but when he tried to get to his feet, she saw him waiver. Well that was a good sign; at least she knew that he could, in fact, be injured.

Peter appeared at her side, Mouthless' ax in his hold, and Sydney let out a low warning growl. She wasn't about to give up, she wasn't going to let this man, this invader, get away without seriously harming him, if he managed to get away at all.

Her pent up energy from the approaching full moon was surging through her body and she extended her arms forward, grabbing the man around the back of the head and hauling his upper body downwards, his face connecting directly with her knee. Peter leapt at them and planted his claws into the man's arm, ripping his little keyboard off his arm, the black device falling to the ground.

Sydney shoved Mouthless against the column nearby and stumbled backwards. Peter latched his hand onto her shoulder and staggered along with her. She slipped her arm around his middle and held him upright, the two of them watching as the stranger stumbled forward.

She made a move to go after him as he crossed the loft but Peter's grip on her shoulder tightened and he dropped to the ground, his knees connecting with the floor. Sydney crouched down next to him, ready to protect him if Mouthless made another move. Peter clung to her and Sydney's eyes remained glued on the man as he strode casually across the loft and headed for the door, leaving his ax on the floor across the room. He stopped in the doorway and turned to face them once more.

With all the power she could muster, she leaned against Peter and let out the most ferocious roar she had ever produced. Peter shuddered at the sound and Sydney felt her chest heaving now as the great roar faded away to nothing, Mouthless taking off through the door. She wanted nothing more than to go after the stranger, to finish him off but Peter's hand was still on her shoulder, his fingers digging into her flesh as he clung to her with everything he had.

When the man was out of the loft, his footfalls fading away as he ran, Sydney turned her attention to the wounded wolf next to her. There was black blood oozing out of the ax wound and she winced at the sight. Black blood was never good, that had to mean Peter wasn't healing.

"Call Derek." He ground the words out through gritted teeth and Sydney immediately dug into her pocket, grasping for her phone. Peter's claws bit into her shoulder and she clenched her jaw so as not to wince, yes any pain that he caused would quickly go away, Peter wasn't so lucky. With one hand wrapped around the phone, which was now pressed to her ear waiting for Derek to pick up, and her other holding on to Peter's hand, she tried to calm down the slightest little bit.

She felt the pain from Peter as she drew it out of his body, taking it away as best as she could. Sydney sat on the floor and when Derek _finally_ picked up his phone, she heard how frantic her voice really sounded.

"Derek I need you! I need you at the loft right now!"

Derek informed her that he'd be right there and Sydney let the phone drop to the floor. She twisted her body and held on to Peter as he struggled to sit upright, his breathing ragged and uneven.

"Not fun is it?" He managed to get the words out through baited breaths, his eyes meeting hers.

"What?"

"Now you know how I felt every time you ran off and got yourself hurt."

"Well yeah." She nodded, making a mental note to give Peter more credit. "But I don't have mouthless people throwing axes at me."

"Tomahawk." Peter corrected and she furrowed her brow in confusion. "It wasn't an ax, it was a tomahawk."

"Right, because that's the most important thing right now, distinguishing between an ax and a tomahawk." Sydney scoffed and shifted off her butt, making her way into a squatting position. She paused and repositioned her grip on his arm.

Hoisting Peter upright, she managed to get them both to their feet before leading him over to the table, the all too familiar table that she had been fantasizing about since Peter had called and asked her to meet him at the loft. She twisted them around and watched as he leaned against the edge of it with his butt.

Sydney let go of him completely and sauntered over to the abandoned tomahawk, picking it up in one hand before wandering over to the fallen glove like apparatus. She then bent down, swiped it off the floor and wandered back to the table, setting both items on the surface, all the while Peter watched her. He glanced down at his chest and Sydney shook her head at the black blood staining his shirt.

"What the hell was that thing?" She asked and moved to stand in front of him, her hands moving out towards him and coming to rest on the hem of his shirt.

"I'm not sure."

"Well why was it after you?"

"Sydney I don't-"

"You should probably stop making enemies." She cut him off and slid the bottom of his shirt upwards.

Peter painstakingly lifted his arms up and she pulled the garment right off, letting it drop to the floor. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought off the ill-timed sexual urge that was making its presence known. She let out a shaky breath and sucked in a gulp of air, trying to fight off the desire to strip the rest of his clothes off and do naughty things with him, right there in the middle of the loft. When she swallowed however, she felt a slight burning sensation in her throat.

"What?" Peter's voice pulled her back to reality and she let the putrid taste settle in her body.

"Wolfsbane." She murmured and dropped her head down, her nose mere inches from the wound on his chest. She took another deep inhale in order to confirm her suspicions. "Mouthless laced his ax with wolfsbane."

"Mouthless?" Peter echoed her nickname for the man curiously and she rose up to her full height.

"Yeah, sorry, that's what I named him."

"Rather appropriate." Peter remarked and she fought off the urge to smile. Her fingertips pressed gently against his chest and she let out contented sigh. It would seem that Peter wasn't going to die on her, he was holding up okay and even the bleeding had slowed down.

"I was serious you know, you really need to stop making enemies." She murmured and pressed a gentle kiss against his jaw. "I can't possibly protect you from _all_ the people out there that you've managed to piss off."

"You don't have to protect me." Peter countered with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not helpless you know."

"So says the man with the ax wound in his chest." She pointed out.

Sydney didn't say another word, instead she leaned forward and pressed herself against his body, his arms coming around her and holding her against him. She listened to his heart beating, slightly faster than normal but not alarmingly high, and concluded that if she wasn't with him when Mouthless attacked then he might have been able to keep himself alive. She didn't doubt that he had tricks up his sleeve.

A few minutes later, when Derek finally entered his loft, Sydney moved away from Peter and took her position next to him. She watched as Derek studied her and his shirtless uncle from across the room and Sydney quickly hauled herself up onto the table, letting her legs dangle over the edge.

"What the hell happened to you?" Derek questioned and pointed directly at Peter's chest wound.

"There was a guy here when we got in and he threw an ax at Peter." Sydney answered for him, trying not to sound overly excited about the prospect of meeting up with Mouthless again in the future. She was still itching for a good fight and now that she had a taste she wasn't going to just walk away.

"Lodged it right in my chest." Peter pointed out and Derek closed the distance between them. He looked at Sydney, waiting for her to further explain the situation.

"He said you were next." Sydney offered and Derek shook his head at them.

"So he threw an ax at Peter here and then said that I was next? What about you, did he say anything about you?" Derek asked, his eyes trained on Sydney.

"Uh no but after the ass kicking I gave him I'd be surprised if I'm _not_ on his little hit list."

"Okay well…first thing's first; let's get that taken care of." Derek stated and motioned towards the gaping hole in Peter's chest.

"What are you going to do?" Sydney pressed and ran her hand up and down Peter's back now. She was reduced to waiting as Derek turned around and disappeared from sight, clearly on a hunt for something in the loft.

Peter turned his head towards her and gave her a reassuring smile. She leaned her head on his shoulder and slid her hands down his arm, taking hold of his hand.

"I can smell you." Peter murmured and pressed a kiss to her head.

"Smell me?"

"I know what the full moon does to you; I can smell your arousal."

"I'm trying okay." She muttered back pathetically and she wasn't lying. After the entire attack she had been desperately trying to focus her thoughts on what the hell had just happened but as soon as his shirt came off, Mouthless faded to the back of her mind and her urges came back in full force. "I'll be fine."

Peter nodded his understanding but didn't respond. He didn't doubt that she could handle it, she was a strong, alpha female who could do pretty much anything she set her mind too, which he most recently discovered, included fighting off mouthless, tomahawk wielding, hit men.

Derek sauntered back towards the table, a sadistic smile on his face. Sydney rolled her eyes, knowing that whatever was going to happen next was going to be more of a show of manliness than anything.

"The ax was laced with wolfsbane?" He questioned, more for confirmation than anything, and Sydney nodded her head yes. "I don't know the species so I'm going to have to burn it out."

Sydney cringed and Derek lifted his silver lighter up into the air, flipping it open.

"I think I can handle a little fire." Peter remarked and she let out a whimper, watching carefully as Derek produced a blowtorch from behind his back, lighting it up, a blue flame glowing from the end of it. "Ah, hell."

Her eyes widened as Derek moved forward, the blue flame out in front of him, and closed in on his uncle. She shifted on the table and came to sit behind Peter, slipping her arms around his and pinning them behind his back to hold him in place. Derek flashed her a small smirk and she nodded, preparing herself for the thrashing of Peter's body, which started as soon as the flame was close enough for him to feel the searing heat against his skin.

She held him firmly, even as his cries of pain caused a shudder to run down her spine, and Derek continued to run the bright blue flame over the wound. When he was satisfied that he had burned out the remainder of the wolfsbane, which had been poisoning Peter slowly, he pulled the flame away and Peter surged forward, breaking out of Sydney's hold.

Sydney watched as he dropped onto the floor, landing on his back against the hardwood. She climbed down off the table and darted towards him, dropping her knees down on either side of him as she straddled his body, desperate for her own release. She didn't care anymore, nothing mattered, and her hands went right for his belt, her fingers fumbling as she tried to get the buckle undone. Peter pushed at her hands but she leaned over him and smirked before pressing her lips against his roughly, fighting off a moan that was forming in the back of her throat.

Derek cleared his throat from behind them but she was undeterred, not even Derek's presence was going to stop her from getting what she so desperately craved. Peter arched his back and shifted his hips away from the floor, trying to gain a little more leverage to get her off, even if every instinct in his own body was protesting. Sydney definitely had the right idea and he'd be an idiot to think otherwise.

She finally broke the kiss, but only when Derek's hand latched onto her shoulder before he pulled her back, her hands moving away from Peter's belt as she was tossed to the side. Upon landing not too far away, she looked up at Derek, her eyes wide with anger, and let out a growl, clearly not happy about him interrupting her fun.

Derek offered a hand to his uncle and Peter took it, letting Derek help him to his feet. Sydney clambered into a standing position and ran her hands through her hair, setting her eyes on Peter, who was staring right back at her, clearly disturbed by her attempt to free him of his pants.

"God damn Mouthless putting a damper on my full moon plans." She muttered.

"Mouthless?" Derek caught her words and looked at her with a confused expression. "His name was Mouthless?"

"No that's just what I called him on account of him not having a mouth and all." She grumbled.

"He said he was after you." Peter reiterated the point they had tried to make earlier, the very important point.

"How does a guy with no mouth say anything?" Derek Hale, always asking the important questions.

"With this." Peter answered and took hold of the glove; the device attached to it was clearly a keyboard.

"Well that's new." Derek remarked and Sydney threw her hands up in frustration.

All she could do was sit and wait and hope that maybe the approaching full moon pull on her body would decrease. With one look at Peter, still standing there shirtless, she knew it wasn't going to be that easy. She wanted him and she wanted him bad.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Oh no, only 2 reviews :( I hope you guys are still enjoying this story, I'd love to get feedback from you!_**

**_Finally, Sydney gets a chance to fight! What did you guys all think of her and Peter taking on the Mute? Should she really have told Peter everything that she found out while she was with Scott, Stiles and Liam?_**

**_Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts! _**

**_cecld16: When I say he tries to fight with Peter in the ruins, I just mean that there's a chance Sydney could attempt to interfere. She won't change the outcome of the fight at all. Him 'losing' to Scott is a pretty major thing in the show and I won't be taking anything away from Scott (or the other characters) unless absolutely necessary. _**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	13. Chapter 13

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary:_ _Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 13****:**

"In case you didn't figure it out, I want you." Sydney announced nonchalantly as Peter pulled his keys out of his pocket and shoved them into the apartment door. She leaned against his back, her chest rubbing against his skin, and slipped her arms around his middle before pressing a kiss against the spot on his flesh between his shoulder blades.

"We're here so that I can grab a shirt, then we're going hunting." Peter countered firmly and shifted in her grasp.

"Rabbit hunting?" She asked in a murmur and placed another kiss on his back, even going as far as to let out a low moan at her own actions. She started ghosting kisses across his shoulders and trailed her way up to the side of his neck before she moved onto her tiptoes and forced her canines to come out, grazing his skin but not breaking it, not yet at least.

As soon as Peter managed to get the door open, he pulled away from Sydney, struggling for a few seconds to get her off him, and strode into the apartment. He left Sydney in the hall with her teeth out, tiny traces of blood on the pearly white surface from her nicking his skin as he fought off her hold on him. She clamped her mouth shut and stepped inside the apartment after Peter, gently closing the door once she was inside.

"No, not rabbit hunting."

"Well why can't we just stay in?" She asked and followed his lead as he wandered towards the bedroom. She was right behind him and when he came to a stop in front of the dresser, she took up her place at his back once again, her palms running up over his shoulder blades and coming to rest on the sides of his neck.

She pressed her mouth against his right shoulder and gently nipped at the skin there, her razor sharp canines nicking him once again, drawing more blood. She leaned back slightly and watched with a smirk as the small wound healed itself right up in front of her eyes.

"That _thing_ wanted me dead; I don't take kindly to people trying to kill me." Peter shot back with a low growl and Sydney felt a shiver run up her spine at the sound rumbling from his chest. She whimpered from behind him but didn't budge as he grabbed hold of the handle to the top drawer of the dresser and pulled it open, immediately grabbing hold of a black t-shirt.

"But I'd rather just stay in." She purred and ran her hands down his back before hooking her thumbs into the belt loops on the sides of his jeans. She tugged on them, trying to get him to give in to her, to get him to agree to stay in the apartment for the night and deal with her full moon urges privately.

Peter set the shirt on the top of the dresser and reached down, wrapping his fingers around her wrists and pulling her hands away from the waistband of his pants. Sydney let out a whimper but moved her body slightly as he twisted his around to face her directly, his fingers pressing firmly into the skin on her wrists. She looked at him and, in a desperate attempt to get him to comply, forced the red of her eyes to come to surface. Peter shook his head at her and pushed her hands down, clamping them against her sides.

Sydney ran her tongue over her still sharp canines and tried to fight back. It didn't matter to her what his ultimate plan was, she was too desperate, too needy and she was the alpha, she was the one with control. She wasn't supposed to submit to him, not when he was merely a beta, _her_ beta. With every bit of strength she could muster, she fought against his grip and tried to bring her hands away from her body, wanting nothing more than to run them all over his skin.

"As _wonderful_ as staying in tonight sounds, I want that _thing_ eliminated."

"Well what if I did this…" She trailed off and moved her hands backwards. Peter looked at her eyes, the red now gone leaving her usual brown irises present, and felt her body relaxing slightly. She grabbed the bottom hem of her own shirt and made quick work of peeling it off of her body and pulling it over her head. She tossed it to the floor next to her feet and planted her hands on her hips, trying to entice him to give in to her.

Peter let out a low growl and she stepped towards him, trailing her fingertips up his bare chest before dragging her fingernails back down across his skin, just barely breaking through. He extended his hands towards her and gripped her bare sides, his fingers biting into her flesh in response to her actions. Sydney let out a low moan and leaned her body forwards, pressing her chest against his.

"All that's standing between you and me is pants Peter." She whispered and clung to him, dropping her head down and kissing his bare shoulder, her tongue running along his skin gently.

"Don't forget about the man trying to kill us." Peter muttered but relaxed in her hold. Pulling her tongue back into her mouth, she bit down on his shoulder quickly, piercing his skin with her teeth, and felt his body shudder in her grasp. Sydney leaned back in his hold and his grip on her sides tightened before he slid his hands down to rest low on her hips.

"But what's really more important Peter? Going after some stranger with a tomahawk who's out for your blood _or_ making sure your mate is sexually satisfied during a time when she needs you most?" Sydney cooed and moved onto her tiptoes, leaning forward so that her forehead rested gently against his. She was hoping that he'd be smart enough to realize that _she_ was the obvious answer, she was more important than some freak without a mouth. There were an unlimited amount of opportunities for him to hunt Mouthless down but the full moon only came about once a month.

"We could do both." Peter offered, his voice soft and barely louder than a whisper, and she knew that she had him right where she wanted him. She took her bottom lip in between her teeth and studied his face. His eyes glowed blue, his lips were pulled up into a half smirk, and she could tell, by the relaxed muscles of his face, that he was starting to become a little more comfortable with the idea of her being slightly out of control during the full moons, especially if he was the one who benefitted from it.

"Which one first?" She countered and closed the distance between her lips and his. She kissed him with everything she had, her hands roaming around his sides so that she could hold on to him, pulling her against him. She felt her chest tightening at the mere idea of getting the man in front of her into bed and she tensed as a warmth began spreading out of her core to every inch of her body.

Peter broke the kiss first and he moved his hands up, away from her hips, as he reached around her back and made quick work of the clasp on her bra. She dropped her shoulders and moved her arms away from him as he peeled the garment off her heated body. As soon as her bra hit the floor, his hands were right back on her hips, only this time he hauled her upwards, her feet moving away from the ground as she wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed her thighs together.

"Sydney…" He said her name in a breathy whisper and she took in a sharp breath. "I need you to know-"

"Shh, don't ruin it." She cut him off and moved in for another kiss but he turned his head away, her kiss landing sloppily on his cheek instead. She wasn't discouraged by his movement though, and instead of making another attempt at planting her soft, warm lips on his, she pressed them against his jaw, lifting her body up in his hold as his grip on her became tighter. She could feel his skin against hers and she shifted her upper body slightly, rubbing against him, wanting nothing more than to feel him.

"No, stop…" He tried to argue but she knew that there was absolutely no conviction behind his voice. "Sydney you need to know-"

"It doesn't matter okay, I don't care. I love you, I want you…Peter I _need_ you."

If whatever he was going to say was important, he didn't argue as she continued her attack on his jaw. Her kisses became rougher, quicker, more desperate and she trailed them downwards, her body slipping in his hold. She hooked her ankles together at his back and squeezed his body with her powerful thighs, his hold shifting on her as he hauled her up further, gaining a better grip on her. His hands moved down to hook underneath her and provide more support for her body.

When his claws pierced the skin on her thighs she let out a yelp of pain and leaned back in his hold. Peter turned towards the bed and stepped forward, bending over and setting her back against the covers, but he didn't let go. He brought his own sharp canines out and looked down at her, a sultry smile gracing her features. Pausing for just a few seconds, he took in her smile, felt his heartbeat pick up in pace and sunk his teeth into the side of her breast, Sydney tensing as he bit into her skin harder.

She let out a low growl but clawed at his shoulders. There was something about the way he bit her that had her wanting him even more than she had mere seconds ago. Peter relinquished his hold on her, let her fall completely onto the bed and moved downwards, kissing the skin of her chest, her ribs, moving past her belly button before sinking his teeth into her hip, pulling her jeans down in the process.

She arched her back up at the contact but let out a shrill shriek at the heavy vibrations from her back pocket. Peter pulled his mouth away from her skin and looked up at her, raising an eyebrow in confusion, surely he hadn't hurt her that much.

Sydney rolled onto her stomach and reached around, grabbing the phone from her back pocket. She pulled it out, moved the phone so that it was right in front of her face and groaned at the name flashing across the screen. She had never been so utterly disappointed in Derek's timing.

"Looks like we get to skip right to hunting." She muttered and rolled onto her side, tossing the cellular device in Peter's direction. He caught it before it had a chance to hit the bed and looked at the text message she had just received.

"Derek's tracked a Wi-Fi signal to the school?" Peter pondered out loud and Sydney let out a groan. After everything she had just done to entice him, how could he so easily toss her feelings out the door. She brought her hands up and covered her bare chest before making her way off the bed so that she could grab her bra before they had to leave the apartment.

Peter stepped across the room, set her phone on top of the fresh black shirt on the dresser and turned on his heels, locking his eyes on Sydney's bare back as she bent over to take hold of her bra.

She wasn't expecting him to do anything other than get dressed himself but when he came up behind her and snaked his arms around her torso, she gasped. When his lips met her shoulder and trailed up to her neck, she shuddered. When his hands took up residence on her hips and came around the front of her jeans to her belt buckle, where he promptly worked on getting her pants loose, she knew that he had put her first.

During the full moon, when all she really wanted was Peter, what more could she really ask for?

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Her fingers were intertwined with his and with the small, lazy smile on her face, anyone who laid eyes on her would have figured she'd be better suited to be enjoying a leisurely walk with her lover on a beach somewhere rather than hunting down a mouthless hit man in Beacon Hills high school.

Peter held onto her hand and tugged on her arm slightly, bringing her closer to him as they moved, her steps matching his. She let out a soft sigh but was already feeling the full moon, yet again, bringing out the best in her. All she really wanted to do was get back to the apartment and get naked but Peter had compromised with her, which was part of the reason why she was currently tagging along as he journeyed towards the entrance to the winding hallways of the high school.

Peter slipped his arm around her shoulders but continued to stalk towards the front of the school. Sydney dropped her head gently against his shoulder and took a deep breath, trying to supress the sexual arousal that was building up in the pit of her stomach. She wandered along beside him and let out a small squeal when they finally approached the front doors of the school. Peter stepped forward and opened it for her, ushering her inside. He brought out his glowing blue eyes in order to help him see better in the dark.

When he glanced over at Sydney, he took notice that she had brought out her alpha vision too, following his lead. She took a whiff of the air and turned her head in the direction that she had smelled Derek's presence in. Gently shoving Peter forward, she started moving down the hall to the right. Her ears were tuned in and all she heard was quiet with a few murmurs here and there from Derek and someone else who smelled very familiar. She pinpointed the scent and realized that the other person in the school with Derek was the sheriff.

Derek and the sheriff were eerily quiet though and if she had been with them, she would have been growling, sniffing, clawing, desperate to lay her hands on Mouthless. Then again she was dealing with the pull of the full moon, which made her sloppy when the situation called for a bit of finesse. So maybe Peter had a point, she should probably seriously consider working on her full moon control in the future.

"Do we get to have sex again when we get home?" She asked in a hushed whisper. Peter grasped her tighter against him and pressed a kiss against the side of her head as if to try and comfort her, to sate her thirst for him.

"I might have some _other_ things in mind that I'm sure you'll enjoy just as much." He murmured in a seductive tone, his lips mere inches from her ear. She shuddered at his implications and remained silent. She certainly didn't want to risk saying something that would change his mind because she was very much looking forward to later, especially with his vague promise of 'other things'.

Her body tensed at Derek shouting to 'get down' and she made a move to run towards him but Peter held her back. She knew simply by scent that Peter was ready for a fight too but she was in full alpha mode, ready to attack if the opportunity presented itself. He was technically her beta, he was her responsibility and she was going to protect him if it came down to it, although she figured he wouldn't _really_ need it, no he was much too focused on getting revenge on the man who had tried to kill him in the loft.

Sydney let go of Peter and turned around so that her back was against his temporarily. She looked at the vacant hallway behind them and felt a shiver run down her spine. Peter continued to stalk through the halls, Sydney wincing every so often at the sounds of a scuffle echoing through the empty school.

"You have the right to remain silent."

The sheriff's voice was all too familiar to her but that didn't mean she was going to relax, especially now that she knew a human was involved in the scuffle. It sounded like he and Derek had managed to get the upper hand but until she saw for herself that Derek and the sheriff were out of harm's way then she wasn't going to drop her guard. Who knew what Mouthless was planning? Maybe he had backup, maybe his backup was in the form of other supernatural sideshows.

"Peter." She whispered his name and spun back around so that she was walking forward, his body shielding hers from any threats that dared to come at them from the front.

"Hang on." He countered calmly but she watched him as he straightened up, the sheriff's voice continued to sound out in the halls, it was getting louder, clearer, with each and every step. They were obviously heading in the right direction.

Sydney didn't dare say a word, instead she hung back and watched in awe as Peter marched forward, his claws protruding from the tips of his fingers as he walked out into the end of the hallway and turned, almost robotically to the left.

She stepped forward and peeked around the corner, gasping at the sight. The sheriff had his gun drawn, the barrel of it pointed directly at Mouthless' face. Derek stood behind the hit man, holding the stranger's arms behind his back. Sydney wrapped her fingers around the corner of the wall and launched herself forward, following Peter's lead as he broke out into a run and headed right for the tomahawk wielding mouthless man.

"Anything you say, can and will be used against you in the court of law. You've the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one-"

Derek's eyes widened in shock as he finally took notice of Peter heading their way. Peter closed in on them, Derek's voice was low and frantic as his uncle leapt at them, his sights set on Mouthless.

"No, Peter, no!"

Derek tackled the sheriff away from Mouthless as Peter jumped on top of him. The sheriff and Sydney's best friend crashed against the opposite side of the wall, the two of them were reduced to watching as Peter straddled the creature and began swiping at its neck.

Sydney surged forward and dropped to her knees, her body colliding with the side of Peter's back but it didn't slow him down at all. She grabbed onto his shoulder and watched in horror as he hit and swiped multiple times, aiming right for Mouthless' throat. She ducked her head behind his shoulder and let out a dry heave but found herself more curious than anything.

When she looked back at the fallen attacker, she fought back the urge to vomit and caught sight of Peter shoving his clawed hand into Mouthless' body. He grabbed hold of something: something very important, something resembling what was once a vital organ in order to survive. She clutched his shoulder with more force and shook her head at his actions, Peter cradling the innards in his blood soaked hands.

She pushed herself away from him, her butt sliding across the tile floor, as he raised his head up, locking his eyes on his nephew and the sheriff before letting the piece of organ fall casually to the heap that was Mouthless' unmoving carcass, the hit man hadn't stood a chance.

When her back pressed against the wall, she brought her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them, holding them in place. Sydney's eyes landed on the bare skin of her arms and she flinched at the sight of blood. Splatters, speckles, streaks of the crimson liquid stained her skin and she curled her body tighter against the wall.

The sheriff's hand, the one with the gun it in, rose up and away from his body as he aimed the weapon at Peter. Sydney shook her head in objection and scrambled to her feet, Peter slowly rising up from the limp body below him. She stepped closer to the whole scene and cocked her head as Peter pulled something from his back pocket and began wiping his hands. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that this was his plan all along, he had wanted to decimate Mouthless but more than that he wanted to rip him apart, to make sure that he stayed dead. She knew he wanted to kill the man, hell she was expecting Mouthless to die but she wasn't expecting to watch Peter shred the creature so bad that he could easily pull out _some_ sort of organ from inside of his body.

She ran forward and placed herself between the sheriff's gun and Peter's body, her hands up in the air in a form of surrender. The sheriff kept his gun trained on her, clearly waiting for her to step away from Peter so that if the opportunity presented itself, he could try to take Peter down with one shot.

She glanced back at Peter and when he made a move to turn away to leave, she took a step backwards, keeping her eyes locked on the sheriff and Derek.

"Syd you don't know what you're doing." Derek called out to her and she cocked her head to the side, wondering what he was implying. Peter reached out and took hold of her hand, gently tugging on her arm so that she'd get the hint and follow him now that he had accomplished what he wanted to do.

"Derek don't." She growled right back and fell in step behind Peter, turning around so that her back was to the sheriff and the gun in his hand.

"We've learned a better way." Derek shouted and Sydney glanced back at Derek, wondering when everything had become so complex. Derek had been her best friend, there had been a point when she would have done anything he asked of her but now, well things were different. She was on Peter's side, she was with him at all times, she wasn't going to walk away from Peter, even if Derek had a point.

Slaughtering Mouthless may not have been completely necessary and yet Peter had decimated the man without a second thought. She would never admit it out loud but his ferocity, his brutality, the savage way he had gone right for Mouthless' throat and destroyed it, well; it had scared her a little bit. It had brought back visions of the very slaughter in her kitchen when her parents had been ripped apart.

She turned her focus back to Peter and followed him closely as he marched away. Her heart was hammering against her chest but she knew where she belonged, she knew she wasn't going to abandon Peter. He was all she really had left. Peter was the one who looked after her, who had given her a place to stay when she didn't have anywhere else to go. He had never called her weak, had never underestimated her. He was her everything and she knew that she was going to have to endure some brutal things in order to stay by his side.

"I'm a creature of habit." Peter countered and gave a gentle tug on her arm. Sydney took a few hurried steps forward and fell in stride next to him. She didn't even bother looking back at Derek, she didn't have to, she knew that battle lines had just been drawn.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Uh oh! Battle lines have been drawn, how do you think Derek's going to feel about Sydney siding with Peter when it comes to taking care of the bad guys? Do you think that Peter did the 'right thing' by slaughtering the Mute? What about Sydney and her priorities, agree or disagree with what she thinks takes predecent?  
_**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_WickenlyMinx: Maybe one day but if she's got Peter around, she doesn't need him. Thanks for the review! I promise there will be more Sydney/Parrish interaction in future chapters._**

**_Luna888 & nerina2014: thank you so much! I'm glad you're loving it!  
_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Stuff will totally go down! It's not going to be smooth sailing for Sydney now that Liam's involved in her life, or a few other people either! Thanks for the review!_**

**_LirealAion: :O Forgetting shirtless Peter! But it was so good lol! She's got a few control problems and issues to work out but hopefully one day she can get there. I'll just say this, Sydney's not stupid and she's not oblivious, she loves Peter but she knows that she can't always trust him. Thank you so much for the review! (Ooooh, more Liam in the next chapter too!)  
_**

**_As always I'd love to hear what you guys think about the chapters, a favourite part, or even if there's something that you don't like, just please review? I love hearing from you guys! _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 14****:**

Without even bothering to actually get dressed when she first woke up, Sydney pranced out into the apartment from the bathroom early in the afternoon dressed in one of Peter's t-shirts and her short pajama shorts. She lifted her hands into the air and stretched out her back as she closed in on the island where Peter was seated, working out something on the laptop.

"What are you doing?" She asked curiously, stepping up next to him and sliding her hand across his back. A deep sigh escaped her throat and she leaned her body against his, pressing a sweet little kiss against his t-shirt covered shoulder.

"Nothing of importance." He replied back nonchalantly and Sydney dropped her butt down onto the vacant stool next to him, her hand moving away from his shoulder to land on his thigh.

"Well I know the full moon is over but if you wanted to, you could come keep me company in bed." She purred and looked up at him, batting her eyelashes in the process.

"As wonderful as that sounds, I think maybe you should check your phone." Peter pointed out and reached his hand forwards, in front of him, pressing his palm against her cell phone, which had been abandoned on the island the night before. He slid the device across the island top and passed it to her, Sydney grabbing hold of it as soon as he removed his palm.

She glanced at the screen and widened her eyes at the sight of five missed text messages and two missed calls, all from the one and only Stiles Stilinski. Sydney cocked her head to the side and opened up the text messages, checking them over one by one.

_Call me. _

_Syd this is important, I need you to call me._

_I don't know where you are but please call me._

She didn't even bother to read the last two as she punched in the number for her voicemail and held the phone against her ear, waiting for Stiles' voice to sound out of her phone. At the panicked tone of the boy in question, she winced, knowing that whatever he had to talk to her about was something important.

"You okay if I call him back?" She drew her eyes upwards and looked at Peter, a hint of shyness to her expression.

"I think you should, if it's something that affects you then it could quite possibly be something that affects me as well." Peter stated and she nodded her head in understanding. He was all business when it came to Stiles lately and she couldn't help but wonder if that was a good or bad thing. One on hand he wasn't as possessive and he let her run off to 'play with the Stilinski boy'. On the other hand she missed the protectiveness that came along with him not wanting her to go.

"Right, yeah. That makes sense." Sydney murmured and dialed the number to Stiles' phone. She completely bypassed the idea of texting him because whatever he had to say to her, he had told her he wanted her to call him. She wasn't sure if he'd be in class or not but when he answered her call on the third ring; she sucked in a breath and waited for him to speak.

"Syd? Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to get a hold of you since-"

"Yeah, no I see that. What's wrong?"

"I was trying to get a hold of you to warn you." Stiles said frantically.

"Warn me?"

"We found a list, a hit list. Syd we're in possession of a dead pool now."

She hesitated and looked at Peter, his eyes locked on hers. She knew that he was listening and she didn't even care. Stiles had just informed her that they had found a hit list, what did that mean for her? Was she on the hit list? Was Peter for that matter? Was the mouthless man part of it too?

"Oh, um, right. That's-"

"A bunch of the people on the list are dead Syd, they're dead!"

"Okay, okay, what's…am I on it?"

"Not this particular one but we think there's more out there, I just want you to be careful, I _need_ you to be careful."

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and nodded her understanding. Peter reached his hand out to her and took hold of her slender fingers, bringing Sydney out of her own thoughts, reminding her that Stiles couldn't actually see her nodding.

"Okay, I'll be careful but you have to keep me posted, you have to tell me if you find more lists."

"I will Syd, I promise you!" Stiles shot back and Sydney felt her heart swell the faintest little bit.

"Thank you." She mumbled and stepped down off the stool, closing the distance between her and Peter. She walked into his embrace and relaxed as his arms came around her. "What about Peter?"

"Huh, yeah, nothing yet."

"Okay." She said softly and smiled as Peter ran his hand up and down her back, his lips pressing sweet little kisses on her collarbone.

"Can I ask you something?" Stiles voice was calmer now that he had been able to get through and warn her but there was still a hint of panic in his tone. Sydney held onto the phone tighter and tried to do her best to remain focused on Peter's presence, his kisses becoming more frantic with each passing second. His lips trailed across her collarbone and down to her shoulder, his hands slipped up under her t-shirt and rubbed against her skin. She bit back a moan and wound up letting out an awkward snort instead. "Syd, hello? What the hell are you doing?"

"Yeah, sorry, what's up, what can I do for you?" She asked and with her free hand she pressed her palm against Peter's head, trying to force him away. He moved her shirt to the side, brought his mouth up and pressed his lips against her neck. When his sharp canines pierced her skin she sucked in a breath and held it, the familiar warm sensation spreading out from her core.

"I was hoping that you'd be at the game tonight. We think we're on to something and one of the guys on the team might be involved in the dead pool."

"The game?" She asked and Peter pulled his teeth out of her flesh, shifting his mouth to the side ever so slightly before digging them back into her, breaking the surface of her skin for a second time.

"Lacrosse Syd, focus, please? I think if you were there, maybe we could stop the killer from getting to Liam, or Scott for that matter." Stiles explained and Sydney felt her legs turning to limp noodles as Peter pulled his teeth out and bit her for a third time. She grabbed on to him with her free hand and held on for dear life.

"I'm so focused it's not even funny." She said and pressed her chest against Peter's, his grip on her tightening to keep her from collapsing to the ground. "What time did you want me there?"

"How fast can you get to the school?" Stiles countered and Sydney locked her eyes on Peter as he brought his attention up to her, smirking at her before forcing his blue eyes out, silently challenging her. She shut her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them up again and looked at Peter, they were bright, fiery red and he growled at her in response.

"An hour, maybe two." She answered. Peter's fingers bit into her sides and she let out a low yelp in surprise. Maybe she'd be a little longer but she wasn't about to tell Stiles that.

"Maybe never." Peter grumbled and sunk his teeth into her other, unmarked, shoulder.

"Can you just get here as soon as you can, we uh, we might need help with Liam too." Stiles broke into Sydney's thoughts and she found her mind drifting to the kid that Scott had bitten not too long ago.

"Liam? So you guys tracked him down?" Sydney questioned and Peter's hands slid up further, pushing her t-shirt upwards and revealing more skin. He motioned for her to take her t-shirt off and she narrowed her eyes on him, gently shaking her head no.

"He showed up at school, it wasn't hard, was it supposed to be hard, was there something else he was supposed to do?"

"No, no I guess not. I don't know what the protocol is, I've never bitten anyone." She chuckled. "If you really want me to find out, I can ask Peter."

His head snapped up at the mentioning of his name and Sydney beamed at the man in front of her as he growled, clearly displeased at the fact that she was talking to Stiles about him.

"What- no, no I think we can figure it out. So what time will you be here, at the, at the school?"

Sydney let out a humming sound and considered the question. She locked her eyes on Peter's and took note that he was not looking too happy, apparently her teasing hadn't been taken lightly. She grabbed hold of his hand with hers and pushed it downwards, forcing it below the waistband of her shorts.

"An hour…" She baited and Peter stared at her, his head shaking no the slightest little bit. "But probably closer to two."

He didn't move at all at this point, except for when Sydney wiggled her hips the slightest bit. She waited for Stiles to respond while Peter's hands traveled down lower, slipping between her shorts and her skin.

"Okay, okay, I guess that's fine. Text me when you're on your way?"

"Of course." She chirped. "I'll see you soon; try not to get into too much trouble, will you?"

"Me? Trouble? No way!"

"Bye Stiles." Sydney drawled.

"See you soon Syd." He replied and she pulled the phone away from her ear, pressing the end call button quickly. Her phone made a whacking noise as it landed on the island.

Her entire body jerked forward as Peter banded his arm around her back and pulled her towards him, his lips connecting with hers. She smiled into the kiss and grabbed hold of him, reciprocating his gesture.

"Dead pool." She murmured. "We should…talk about the…"

"Dead pool." Peter finished for her and she nodded robotically.

"Bedroom?" Sydney moaned. "Or are we going to fulfill your teenage kitchen fantasy today?"

"What makes you think I'm interested in either?" He cooed and she melted into his arms, her head dropping down to rest against his shoulder.

"If that's the case then I should just go have a shower and get to the school."

"Yes well, you neglected to mention the couch and the shower…"

"I should really…Stiles sounded like he really needed me." Sydney sighed.

"What if I said _I really need_ you?"

"Oh god." She groaned. "Just, stop teasing me. You pick, bedroom or right here?"

He cocked his head to the side, ran his hand up, out of her shorts and along her side before smirking at her. Sydney raised her hands into the air and let him slip her shirt up, over her arms before freeing her upper body from the garment completely. She slowly lowered her hands back down and slipped her thumbs under her bra straps.

"You should probably get going," Peter murmured. "because if this doesn't stop now, you're going to be staying here, with me, for the rest of the night."

"Right." She nodded and took a small step back, peeling her body away from his. "Okay. I'll be back later then."

Peter remained silent and removed his hands from her body. His eyes never left her figure as she turned on her heels and pranced into the bathroom. When she was out of sight, he let out a giant sigh and rubbed his hands over his thighs, trying to bring himself back from what had just happened.

He promised himself that when she got back home, after helping out Stiles, he was going to pick up right where he left off.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Stiles had been waiting around, hoping that Sydney would show up sooner rather than later. There was way more information that he needed to relay to her but most importantly, he needed her help, he wanted her to talk to Liam, to see what the kid was really, truly capable of. Yes Derek had showed up earlier and baited the kid into shifting but that had been it. This kid was angry, terribly so and maybe the only way to get an angry beta to submit was by using an alpha whose morals weren't quite as strong as Scott's.

When he caught sight of Liam standing in front of the bus from Devenford, his eyes locked on one of the opposing players. Stiles knew that the sooner Sydney arrived on the scene, the better off they'd all be. She wouldn't have any issues being a little rough and tough with the kid, hell if he knew Sydney well enough, she was probably itching for a fight.

The kid from Devenford Prep started laughing at whatever Liam had said to him and Stiles looked to Scott, hoping the werewolf was paying attention to the exchange happening not more than twenty feet away. Within seconds of the other kid threatening Liam, Scott dropped his leg back, clapped Stiles on the back and rushed forward, Stiles darting after him as the two of them came to a stop on either side of Liam. Scott pressed his one hand against his new beta's back while his other one came to rest against his chest, ultimately pulling Liam out of the Devenford player's direct line of sight.

Stiles took the lead as Scott continued to pull Liam away from the tense confrontation that had been going on seconds earlier. Stiles leaned forward a little bit, tossed on his best 'nice to meet you' face and started to do damage control.

"Hey, what's going on prep students? Welcome to our little public high school. How you doing?" Stiles extended his hand out to the kid but he didn't budge. "Stiles. That's a firm handshake you got there. Uh, we're very excited for scrimmage tonight. Uh, but let's keep it clean, all right? No rough stuff out there."

"But I like it better rough." Sydney's smooth voice purred from behind Stiles now and the lanky teenager jerked as her hand came to rest on his shoulder. She locked her eyes on the prep school student and smirked. "I bet he does too."

Stiles reached his hand back and pushed his palm against her side, forcing her backwards and away from the opposing player. He glared back at her but she simply smiled sweetly in response, waiting for her next opening.

"All right, see you on the field." Stiles turned his back to the student and pointed his finger into the air. He locked his eyes on Sydney and ushered her forward, meeting up with Scott and Liam. "Go."

She looked back at the kid standing in front of the bus and tossed him a little wave. The kid looked utterly lost and confused but at her action, he lifted his own hand up and waved back to her. Yes, there was one thing that could always get a reaction from a teenaged boy and Sydney knew exactly what it was; a sexy woman, just like herself.

Stiles pushed them all forward and Sydney fell in stride with him, wondering where on earth he was leading them. She surveyed her surroundings and smiled at all the young, teenaged boys, watching as they stared at her. If she knew one thing it was that Peter was a lucky man. With all of the options she had in the world, she had chosen him to be with.

She let out a sigh as Stiles, Scott and Liam rushed into the school. She took a whiff of the air and cocked her head at the faint, lingering scent of Derek. Making a mental note to ask about him to Stiles later, she continued to follow them further into the school, all the way into the boy's locker room. She hesitated just outside the door but Stiles grabbed a fistful of her jacket and tugged her inside, Sydney growling at his action. His hand immediately came off of her jacket but she followed him into the room anyways.

Scott forced Liam forward and held him against the wall of the shower, watching carefully as Stiles turned the tap on, the water from the showerhead cascading down over Liam, who was partially shifted and struggling against them harder than he was not thirty seconds ago. He was growling at them now too, desperate to get away from them, to get back to the prep school kid and destroy him. She didn't completely blame him; she had shown up early enough in the conversation to catch the gist of it.

For a few seconds longer, she watched Stiles and Scott holding the kid under the stream of water, trying to force him back, to force his _wolf_ back.

"Turn it on hotter." She stated, her tone suggesting she was bored already. "Ooh or really cold, that'll work too!"

Stiles tossed a glare in her direction and pressed his palm against Liam's right shoulder while Scott handled holding him back on the left side. Sydney stepped into the shower further and moved to take a stance directly in front of him, lifting her finger up to her lips and motioning for him to stay quiet. With Stiles and Scott facing away from her, she brought out her alpha eyes and watched as Liam visibly tensed, his eyes not wavering from her.

"Okay, you calm yet?" Stiles shouted at the kid and Sydney rolled her eyes, forcing her alpha reds to disappear. Liam watched her every move and when her brown eyes had returned to the surface of her eyeballs, he let out one last rip-roaring growl, shaking his head like a wet dog.

"Okay! Okay!" Liam shouted back at them now and leaned forward. He collided against the adjacent wall and Stiles immediately moved his hand out to turn the water off. Sydney planted her hands on her hips and watched the kid as he used the tiled wall for support, pressing his back against it as he lowered himself to the floor. Sydney crouched down next to him and set her hands on his knee, looking right into his eyes. He gave her a slight nod, acknowledging that he had received her signal to be quiet loud and clear and she tossed him a smile.

"Long time Liam." She remarked. "I just have to say, you are simply adorable."

"Syd, now's not- are you really doing this now?" Stiles spoke up and she gave him a shrug. Sydney stayed right where she was, squatting down next to Liam, even as Stiles scoffed at her. Scott glanced at her but shook his head; no now clearly wasn't the time for her to be doing whatever it was she was doing.

"That car you smashed. I thought you said that was your teacher's." Scott stated and glanced down at Liam, a look of genuine concern on his face. Sydney gave Liam's knee a firm pat before she slowly rose up to her full height, looming over the kid now.

"He was also my Coach. He benched me for the entire season." Liam explained and Sydney shook her head.

"Men and their sports." She mumbled and tucked her hands into the front pockets on her jacket.

"What did you do?" Scott pressed, Stiles had, much to Sydney's surprise, remained rather calm up until this point.

"I got a couple of red cards." Liam answered.

"Just a couple?" Stiles piped up, his tone laced with disbelief. Apparently there was something about this kid that Sydney was missing, something about a coach and smashing his car. Well she knew one thing for sure, she had never gotten into trouble for smashing a car, no, but then again, she wasn't innocent either, her eyes were blue, not gold. That had to say something about her, didn't it?

Scott crouched down into a squatting position in front of the kid and laced his fingers together. She recognized the gesture; it was very similar to what her father used to do when she first started learning to control the shift. She'd wind up on the ground because he'd had to fight her off but instead of scolding her, he'd drop down to her eye level and talk her through what had happened. Is this why Scott was true alpha material, because he genuinely cared about just about everyone?

"You got to be honest with us, what else happened?" Scott asked rather calmly considering the entire situation.

"Nothing. I got kicked out of school. They sent me to a psychologist for evaluation."

"You sound like my kind of werewolf." Sydney remarked with an amused smirk toying on her lips.

Stiles leveled his gaze on her and she raised her hands, still inside her jacket, upwards in surrender. So maybe she wasn't being particularly helpful, Stiles had called her away from Peter, a very teasing Peter who would rather have had her just stay in the apartment and, more specifically, the bed. She wasn't about to let these boys get away with that.

"What did they call it?" Scott's voice was still soft.

"Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

"I.E.D? You're literally an I.E.D? That's great." Stiles jeered and directed his attention towards Scott. "That's great. You gave super powers to a walking time bomb."

"Stiles back off." Sydney growled. "It's not like the kid asked for it."

"Did they give you anything for it?" Scott brushed off their exchange and remained focused on Liam.

"Risperdal, it's an antipsychotic."

"Oh, this just gets better." Stiles said, sarcasm very evident in his tone. Sydney shot him a look and he raised his hands into the air.

"But I don't take it." Liam confessed.

"Obviously." Stiles scoffed and clapped his hands together.

"I can't play lacrosse on it, it makes me too tired."

"It won't matter anymore anyways." Sydney cut in and suddenly all eyes were on her. "I just mean because he's a werewolf. Drugs don't have the same effects on wolves as they do humans."

Liam stared at her, an awestruck expression on his face. She kicked her foot against the tile floor and prayed that they'd take their attention off of her soon. She hadn't meant to turn their conversation into a mini werewolf lesson but that's exactly what had happened.

"Okay. I think you should bail out of the game. Tell Coach your leg is still hurting."

"How very noble of you Scott, I do remember hearing about your first game as a werewolf." Sydney snorted and Stiles looked at her, clearly confused as to how she knew. "Derek's my best friend; he told me pretty much everything. I just think that if you're going to make him bail you should have a better reason than 'the other team is a bunch of pricks'."

"Or he could just do what the alpha says." Stiles remarked snidely. "And bail out of the game."

"No, no!" Liam retorted, a look of worry crossing his features. He made his way to his feet and his eyes fell on Sydney briefly before locking onto Scott. "I can do this…especially if you're there."

Stiles pressed his palms against his face and let out a sigh. Whatever he was expecting to happen clearly wasn't what was _actually _happening. Sydney knew enough, even without her werewolf super abilities, that Stiles was frustrated beyond belief.

"But, Liam, it's not just about the game. We think whoever killed Demarco might be on our team."

"Wait, killed…what?" Sydney yelped. "You didn't- Stiles what the hell is going on?"

"And who's Demarco?" Liam added.

"The one who brought the beer to the party." Stiles answered sarcastically, waving his hand around in front of his face. "The guy who was beheaded, remember?"

"What the fuck did I miss?" Sydney interrupted. "You had a party and some beer delivery guy was _beheaded_ and you didn't think that was something that I should _know_?"

Stiles shrugged at her and Scott looked between Sydney and Liam.

"We think the person who ordered the keg killed Demarco." Scott offered and Sydney bit back her urge to growl at the two older boys. Liam's eyes cast downwards and he looked like he was in serious contemplation. "Liam? What, you know something?"

"I don't know who ordered the keg." The youngest boy confessed. "But I know who paid for it."

"Who? Fuck, just tell us!" Sydney barked and pulled her hands out of her pockets, curling her fingers inwards and forming fists.

"Garrett."

"Fuck's sake, who the fuck is Garrett?" Sydney groaned and turned her back to them, making her way out of the shower.

"Syd, just stay calm, okay, calm. Good." Stiles followed her lead and came up behind her, hesitating but pressing his palm against her shoulder. She turned her head to the side and glared at him.

"First you tell me there's a dead pool, now you're telling me that some fifteen-year-old kid is killing people on said dead pool list? You know, I'm really tired of my life resting in the palm of your incapable hands." She grumbled.

"But your name wasn't on the first list. It might not be on the next list either."

"Right well, let me know when you figure it out. I'm going to scope out the lacrosse field, make sure it's not rigged or anything. I'll see you on the field."

She let out a huff but Stiles reached out and took hold of her hand. She felt the warmth of his skin against hers and let her body relax at his touch. Sydney pressed her lips together and slowly brought her eyes up to meet Stiles', he shot her a sympathetic look in response.

"Be careful." He warned.

"Always." She whispered her reply and gently pulled her hand out of his. She flashed him one last sad smile and headed towards the door to the locker room. Maybe the night wouldn't end in murder after all, at least not if she had anything to say about it.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Thank you LirealAion for the lone review last chapter!_**

**_Only one review though :( You guys can review saying anything, even if there's something that you don't like, or maybe theories on what's going to happen even. I'd love to hear your feedback on Sydney as a character, maybe you have questions about her life, her backstory, maybe there's something you don't like about her?_**

**_Sydney and Liam are getting off to a decent start as friends, don't you think? Do you think Stiles and Scott should've mentioned the whole Demarco/Garrett thing to Sydney earlier or left her out of it just like they did?_**

**_I'd love to hear what you all thought about this chapter! _**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	15. Chapter 15

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 15:**

Not that she had really been expecting to find anything funny with the lacrosse field per say but she knew for sure that she had to get out of that locker room. There was no way she was going to be able to stay in there while Scott and Stiles spoke to Liam, especially when they had clearly left some very important pieces of information out.

She knew they didn't exactly owe her anything but she had believed her and Stiles were friends and that her and Scott were allies when it came down to a common enemy, which they definitely shared now in the form of Kate Argent. Sydney wanted the woman dead just as much as Scott wanted the woman gone but she knew he wouldn't outright kill her, which was where she came in.

Sydney had absolutely no problem with the idea of taking Kate and ripping out her heart, literally. She knew it wasn't the right thing to do, not in Scott's eyes, but she didn't care. Kate had hurt her, she had hurt the Hales, badly, and the bitch needed to pay. It didn't matter to Sydney whether or not the crazy, psycho woman had burned down her house, she was going to die, she had done enough to warrant a painful, agonizing death at the hands of Sydney Vance.

Dropping her butt down onto the front row bench of the bleachers, Sydney crossed her arms over her chest and let out a sigh. She let her thoughts drift back to the night she had sought out shelter from Peter. She often found herself wondering if she had feelings for him before that point, that maybe she had been harbouring an attraction to the man that had been her best friend's uncle ever since she was old enough to notice boys. He had been a part of her life growing up, albeit a small part, so it wasn't like he was a total stranger.

She didn't know a lot about him when she was a child but she had left Beacon Hills when she was ten and hadn't returned permanently until she was twenty-four. There was a lot of changing that a person could do in fourteen years. Peter had gone from a young, spry man to a coma patient, which had lasted six of those fourteen years.

It must have been hard; Sydney couldn't have even begun to imagine the anguish, the feelings of hatred and anger, not to mention the regret of not being able to do more. She had never blamed him, not for anything; not the killing spree, not Laura's death, not the alpha pack. She knew she shouldn't have given him as much slack as she had, especially not in regards to Laura's murder, but she had no idea what it was like to have spent six years in a comatose state, she couldn't even begin to imagine what that could do to a person.

Peter was her mate and she could put up with a lot when it came to him. She knew his life hadn't been easy, just like hers. Neither one of them had much family left, just Derek, but they did have each other. With that thought in her head, she brought her feet up and rested them on the lip of the bleachers below her legs. She watched carefully as the two teams rushed onto the field, the stands now filling up behind her.

She locked her eyes on Liam and let out a small sigh. The kid was practically doomed in her eyes. He was literally an I.E.D. and he was being taught how to be a werewolf by Scott McCall. She had to give the kid credit, he was really trying and he seemed to genuinely care about Liam's well-being, but that didn't excuse him when it came to what it was really like out in the world. Scott tended to sugar-coat things and protect people, even when they didn't necessarily need to be protected.

At the sound of Stiles' voice, Sydney's body tensed up and she turned her head in the direction from which she heard him. He gave her a nonchalant wave as he brushed past her, the phone pressed against his ear as he spoke to his father. She knew because she was listening.

"Hey dad, you're supposed to be here. Where the hell are you?" Stiles grumbled into the phone and Sydney remained seated, hoping that she wouldn't have to stick around for too much longer. The sport of lacrosse bored her, in fact many sports bored her, but she was going to do the boys a favour and help them out.

_"I'm leaving now." _The sheriff's voice echoed out of the phone and into her ears_. __"__And this conversation isn't getting me there any quicker."_

Stiles hung up the phone and tossed it into his bag. Sydney let out a huff and locked her eyes on the Beacon Hills bench, more specifically little Liam who was conversing with his friend. She didn't bother to listen in on the conversation; instead she opted to study Bobby Finstock as he closed in on his team. She couldn't help but smile as he looked in her direction, his brow furrowing when he caught sight of her. She tossed him a wave and he hesitated before throwing her a wave right back.

Her phone vibrated against her thigh, breaking her out of her stare, and she quickly uncrossed her arms, digging the device out of the pocket on the front of her jeans. She looked at the number flashing across the screen but didn't recognize it. Undeterred, Sydney pressed the answer button, moved the phone against her ear and stood up, walking around to the end of the bleachers and out of sight of prying eyes.

"Hello?"

"Am I speaking with Sydney?" The sheriff's voice sounded out in her ear and she felt her entire body going rigid with worry. If the sheriff was calling her when he was supposed to be on his way to Stiles' game, well, that had to mean that something bad had happened, or maybe he had caught a lead on the fire, which had claimed her house.

"Yeah, what can I do for you sheriff?" She tried to play it cool, as though she always received calls from the sheriff.

"I uh, well I don't really know how to put this but we have a uh, a supernatural issue-"

"Okay, um. I can try to help. Did you want me to meet you somewhere?" Sydney cut him off, knowing that supernatural talk made the sheriff uneasy on a good day.

"That'd be great actually, if you could just come down to the station. This is something that I'd normally throw in Scott's direction but I know that he's busy, he's playing lacrosse and, well, you're the only other alpha that I know of, I thought maybe you'd be up for something-"

"Good lord, anything is better than watching this stupid game." Sydney groaned. "Give me like ten minutes, I'll be right there."

"Okay, thanks Sydney."

"No problem." She found herself smiling to herself as she hung up her phone and stuffed it back into her pocket. She turned around and headed back towards the bleachers but completely bypassed her vacated seat.

She closed in on Stiles, who was sitting on the bench waiting for the game to start, and ducked down beside him, poking him on the shoulder to catch his attention. Stiles' head turned towards her and she tossed him a smile in the hopes that it would reassure him that nothing bad was going to happen. The kid had enough to worry about without a professional killer on the field.

"Syd now's not-"

"I have to go." She cut him off firmly. "Your dad just called me and asked if I could help him out."

"Oh. Well uh, huh, I guess you can't turn that down." Stiles remarked and Sydney took notice as Stiles' scent shifted slightly. She could tell he was nervous without much effort at all.

"If something happens, you can call me, I'll come back as soon as I can but your dad seemed pretty anxious."

"Yeah, you should probably go help him out." Stiles stated softly and she gave him a nod before straightening up.

Walking down the line of players on the bench, she crouched down next to Liam and tapped him on the shoulder. The baby beta turned his attention to her and he forced a smile in her direction.

"I just wanted to let you know that if Scott and Stiles wind up giving you trouble, let me know okay? I'll take care of them." She stated in a hushed whisper.

"Do they know that your eyes are red, like Scott's?" Liam questioned back, his voice equally as quiet as hers.

"Stiles does, Scott doesn't, please try to keep it that way. Here." She paused in her statement and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small piece of paper with her phone number scrawled onto it. She extended it towards him and he took it, studying the numbers on it. "That's my phone number; you can call me _any time_ okay. I just want to see you succeed and maybe when this nightmare of a game is over, we can talk about werewolf eye colour."

"You'd do that? For me?" Liam looked at her, clearly confused by her kindness.

"Like I said, I want to see you succeed, plus I know Scott can be a little _forgetful _sometimes. Just don't tell him about my eyes."

Liam nodded his head at her, tucked the piece of paper with her number on it inside his lacrosse bag and smiled at her. She gave him a pat on the back and straightened up, surveying the other team one last time and locking her eyes onto one specific player, who smelled an awful lot like a werewolf. She pushed the concern to the back of her mind and gazed down at Liam one more time.

"Thanks." He broke the silence that had fallen between them. She gave him a firm nod.

"Good luck on your, uh, your game. Try not to die." Sydney shot back and gave him a small smile in return.

She stuffed her hands back into the pockets on her jacket and took off for the parking lot. She had told the sheriff she'd be at the station in ten minutes and time was ticking away. She hated being late.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

By the time Sydney arrived at the sheriff's station, she had been able to catch Lydia and Malia being ushered further into the building yet she had remained in the lobby, just watching the scene unfold in front of her. The sheriff paused outside of the door to his office and made a motion for the two girls to hang on a second.

"I'm aware this is probably about the dead pool, but I can't let her leave the station, and in a minute, I'm going to have to call Eichen House and let them know that she's here."

Sydney wasn't entirely familiar with the strange girl sitting inside his office but she knew that she was about to get to know her, all up close and personal no doubt. The fact that she was now in the sheriff's station with Lydia and Malia bothered her the slightest little bit, one of them was the weird object of Peter's fascination and the other was his potential offspring. She used the term potential because until she had some sort of solid proof, she'd deny that he had a child at all.

"Give us an hour." Lydia stated and Sydney could tell that there was something bothering her. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on but apparently whatever it was had something to do with the dead pool, which was something that Sydney wouldn't mind knowing more about, especially if her name had the potential to be on it.

"You got fifteen minutes." The sheriff countered and Lydia gave him a look of disbelief but walked into the same room as the strange girl, Malia tailing behind her.

Sydney took a few slow, hesitant steps forward, hoping that someone would notice her before she had to make herself known. She had been informed that there was a 'supernatural issue' but that was all that the sheriff had given her before she ended the phone call. There was no way that she was going to stay at the lacrosse game if she didn't have to. For one, Scott was a perfectly capable alpha, he also had Kira and then there was that kid on the other team who smelled like a werewolf. Scott would be fine without her.

"You called Lydia?" Parrish questioned as he closed in on the sheriff. Sydney let out a small cough, trying to catch anyone's attention. When no one even glanced in her direction, she took another step forward.

"Yeah." The sheriff replied hesitantly.

Sydney dropped her gaze down to the floor and quietly cleared her throat. When she looked back up, she took note that she had caught the attention of Stiles' dad. Parrish turned around, faced her too and she locked her eyes on Sheriff Stilinski.

"Did you call her here too?" Parrish questioned and Sydney cocked her head to the side.

"Yes, I did." The sheriff nodded and Sydney took a few steps closer to the two of them, Stiles' dad reached out a hand to her and motioned for her to move closer to them, she did as she was commanded and took her stance next to the authoritative man. "I have some information regarding the fire at her house, which I will be speaking to her about when I'm done with Lydia."

Sydney nodded her understanding but remained quiet. She had caught enough of their conversation to know that the sheriff was clearly a little nervous about Lydia being in the station, along with Malia, and one other girl whom Sydney had never met. There was some sort of supernatural thing going on, which was why he had called Sydney to start with. At least with the female alpha in the station, she figured that he'd be able to relax a little bit.

"Right." Parrish remarked and shook his head, flashing Sydney a charming smile. She shrugged her shoulders at him as if to say 'what can you do' before she wandered towards the room with Malia and Lydia, hesitating and taking up a stance behind the sheriff.

"It's uh, very important." The sheriff pressed.

"And Lydia? Why's she here? Because Meredith asked for her or because of the other thing?"

"Who's Meredith?" Sydney murmured, hoping that only the sheriff had heard her.

"What other thing?" The sheriff held up a finger in Sydney's direction, asking for her to give him a minute with his motion. Parrish hesitated and took a look around the station, making sure there were no prying ears. Sydney looked down at her feet to avoid the deputy's gaze but he seemed unaffected by her presence.

"The psychic thing."

"Psychic?" Sydney broke in and glanced between the two officers.

"You think Lydia's psychic?" The sheriff added quickly.

"Do you?"

"No, I do not." The sheriff replied defensively and Sydney took hold of his hand in an act of reassurance. She was there, she was by his side and they would get through this, whether Parrish was involved or not. "I think that she is, uh...intuitive."

"That's what they used to call psychics, intuitionists."

"Okay education police." Sydney broke in. "Who died and left you in charge of the crazies?"

"But it is, it's what they used to be called." Parrish shot back and Sydney gave him a disbelieving look. Her only defense was to play dumb. She didn't doubt that he was right but that didn't mean he needed to know anything more than he already did.

"Yeah, and I used to call myself a rational human being. Get in here and shut the door."

Sydney watched as the sheriff waved the deputy into the room with the three girls, Sydney following right behind them as he shut the door, securing them inside. Anyone outside wouldn't be able to hear or see what was going on, which Sydney was grateful for. Once she was securely inside, she looked at Lydia and tossed her a lame, forced smile. Lydia's jaw visibly clenched and Malia settled her glare on the female alpha.

"What's_ she_ doing here?" Malia grumbled and Sydney raised her hands into the air in surrender.

"I was called here." Sydney countered. "Don't get your panties in a wad."

"Girls," the sheriff broke in, "ask what you need to ask."

Parrish crossed the room and Sydney followed closely behind him. She didn't know what else to do, she had been invited by the sheriff but Malia and Lydia obviously felt differently about her being in the room with them. She took her place next to the desk, leaning her hip against the edge of it and crossing her arms over her chest, watching carefully as the scene unfolded in front of her.

Lydia quickly extended her cell phone to the girl sitting on the bench. Sydney took the opportunity to study this Meredith, her hair wiry and sticking up, her eyes wide giving her a permanent look of shock on her face. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on but she was smart enough to figure out that this girl was something similar to Lydia, maybe even the same thing.

The girl looked up at Lydia and hesitantly took hold of the phone, pulling it away from Lydia's hand. Sydney wasn't sure what the importance of the phone was but she kept quiet and continued watching, hoping she'd be able to figure it out without explanation.

"Meredith, aren't you going to answer it?" Lydia asked, her voice soft but Sydney could sense Lydia's frustration. The thing that caught her attention though was that the phone wasn't ringing, unless it was on silent, but what teenager put their phone on silent anymore? Was Lydia insane?

Meredith slowly rose to her full height and Sydney had to admit that she wasn't expecting the girl to be so tall. The strange girl moved in closer to Lydia and placed her lips right by the strawberry blonde's ear.

"It's not ringing." Meredith whispered in response and Sydney let out a snort of amusement. Suddenly all eyes were on her and she pressed her lips together hard so as not to let out any more of laughter that was currently building in her throat.

Meredith cautiously dropped back down to sit on the bench and Lydia just stared forward, trying to keep her calm. Sydney didn't need werewolf senses to know that the banshee was about ready to explode and her mind immediately traveled back to the time where she had helped Stiles track down Lydia in the school, where they had found her with Cora in the closet. All they had wanted was information and they had to go through Ouija boards, automatic writing, even getting Lydia to feel out Deaton's keys. Payback was certainly in order and it amused Sydney to know how frustrated Lydia had to be.

Lydia dropped down to squat in front of Meredith and Sydney glanced around the room, wondering what was going through everyone else's heads. The sheriff looked like he was as confused as they came, Malia looked almost bored and Parrish, well, she wasn't entirely sure what he knew, which meant that she didn't know if letting him into the room with the supernatural creatures was a very good idea.

"Meredith, you came here to help us, remember?" Lydia said lowly, desperate to remain calm.

Meredith looked like a scared, twitchy animal. "You called me."

"What do you mean I called you?"

"I heard you." Meredith nodded.

"Meredith, can I ask you a question?" Parrish moved towards the two girls and Sydney straightened up and pushed herself away from the desk, moving to stand just behind him. Meredith nodded her head yes, like any sane woman would in his presence, and he dropped to one knee in front of her. "When you need help, when you need to find something, is there someone you reach out to? Maybe someone you call?"

"It depends, different people for different things."

"Obviously." Sydney muttered in an amused tone. "Apparently Lydia calls you when she needs help."

"I heard her." Meredith countered.

"Did you hear anyone else?" Sydney pressed but the sheriff stepped up next to her and set his hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her back. Sydney gave in to his touch and took a stance beside him. "Okay, sorry."

"So maybe there's a number that can help us? Someone we can call?" Parrish shot Sydney a glance but he didn't glare at her, he didn't seem fazed by her presence at all. If he was suspicious about the sheriff's story of her being there to talk about her house fire, he didn't let on. Maybe the whole thing with Meredith was bigger somehow, more important to the law than her being there.

"Yes." Meredith gave in and locked her eyes on Parrish.

Jealous wasn't the word that Sydney would have used to describe how she felt with all the other girls looking at the deputy who had given her his number but she wasn't going to deny that all of the female attention he was getting wasn't slightly unnerving. They were barely legal anyways, so there was no reason for him to be involved with any of them, right? She had nothing to worry about, she shouldn't have been worrying anyways, she was claimed, but it didn't stop her possessiveness from taking over.

"Would you be okay telling us?"

"Yes." Meredith paused and Lydia brought her phone away from Meredith's loose grip. "It's two, four, three, six..."

"Mer, we need a few more numbers." Malia broke in and Sydney ground her teeth together at the werecoyote's voice.

"No. That's the number." Meredith stayed firm. The more time she spent in the same room as this girl, the more that Sydney found she didn't mind her company.

"Yeah Malia." Sydney tossed out. "If she says that's the number then who are you to say otherwise?"

"Don't you start-"

"I'm not starting anything; I'm merely on Meredith's side here." Sydney shrugged innocently and felt Malia's piercing glare on her. Sydney simply smirked in response. "And who do you think you are, you're not her friend, you shouldn't get to call her Mer."

"Back off." Malia grumbled but tore her eyes away from Sydney, her eyes landing back on Meredith. "Phone numbers are ten digits."

"That's the number." Meredith stated.

"Yeah guys, that's the fucking number." Sydney added and tossed Meredith a reassuring smile.

"Meredith, phone numbers always have ten digits." Lydia broke in, shaking her hands at the awkward girl sitting on the bench in front of her.

"I do believe that that's the number." Sydney snickered from behind the girls.

"That's the number." Meredith agreed.

"Meredith..." Lydia brought her hand up and pressed her fingers together. The sheriff stepped up and gently set his hands on Lydia's shoulders while Sydney watched Parrish back away to give him more room. The young deputy sidled up next to her and she leaned towards him, her hip brushing against his.

"Lydia." The sheriff guided Lydia to her feet and ushered her away from Meredith slightly. "Hey. Come here. I think that's the best we're going to get."

"Maybe you could go ask Peter for help." Sydney muttered snidely and recalled the time Lydia and Allison had shown up to the loft, which had ended in Sydney leaving with them because Lydia had announced that Peter was 'more than an uncle'. "Since it worked out so well for you the last time."

"No. No. There has to be more." Lydia was nearly pleading and there was something in particular about watching Lydia struggle which satisfied Sydney to no end. Lydia turned back to Meredith. "What's the rest of it, Meredith? Huh? Just concentrate!"

"But that's... that's... that's the number." Meredith countered.

"Yeah Lydia, you didn't even try to call it. Maybe it's not a phone number at all." Sydney pointed out with a smug smirk. The sheriff shot her a look and she took a step back, nudging Parrish as she moved. He tossed a reassuring smile in her direction and reached his hand out, gently setting it on her forearm.

"Concentrate!" Lydia shrieked and Sydney fought off the urge to growl.

"Yelling at her isn't helping!" Sydney shot back. "If she says that's the number then maybe you should back off."

"That's...that's the number. That's the number."

"It's okay, sweetheart. We're..." The sheriff closed in on her and gave Meredith a gentle pat on the shoulder. Sydney set her sights on Lydia as the strawberry blonde reluctantly stalked away from Meredith.

"That's the number!" Meredith shouted and Sydney took a step forward, preparing herself to get in between the sheriff and the irate girl if she had to. This girl looked scared and didn't seem to pose a threat but Sydney wasn't about to underestimate her and wind up in a situation where she should have played her role as alpha better.

The sheriff gently ushered Meredith out of the room and Sydney took off after him. Parrish hung back for all of two seconds before joining them, his eyes locked on Meredith as the sheriff gently sat her down on one of the chairs in the lobby before dropping down next to her. Stiles' dad looked up at Sydney and she noticed the defeated expression on his face before planting her hands on her hips and letting out a soft sigh.

"I think that could've gone worse." Sydney remarked and Parrish stepped up to stand beside her, extending his hand towards Sydney and motioning for her to stay next to him.

"It certainly could've gone better." The sheriff remarked and dropped his head down into his hands. Sydney took a few seconds and studied the girl beside him. She brushed past Parrish and squatted down in front of her.

"Hey Meredith, can I call you Meredith?" Sydney questioned and Meredith nodded slowly. "I think what you did in there was brave okay and no matter what Lydia says I believe you."

"That's the number."

"Okay, okay I'll see what I can do." Sydney nodded and threw a small smile in the scared girl's direction. She rose up to her full height, tossed a look at the sheriff and cautiously made her way back into the sheriff's office where Lydia and Malia had remained.

When she wandered into the room, she caught Lydia sitting at the desk with Malia standing in front of her. Sydney walked further into the room, her eyes locked on Malia's as she ventured closer to them. Malia flashed her vibrant blue eyes at Sydney, who scoffed in response, and closed the last remaining bit of distance between them.

Malia gave off one, final growl in Sydney's direction and dropped her gaze down to the surface of the desk where Lydia had scrawled the numbers that Meredith had given them. Malia took the paper into her hand and crumbled it in her fists, Sydney remaining silent but letting a low rumble pass over her lips at the girl's actions.

"Lydia, what if it's like Algebra?" Malia pointed out, as though she might have figured it out.

"Like I said before, maybe it's not a phone number." Sydney added and rolled her shoulders back, hating the idea of being in the same room as the two girls. "Did you try typing it into Google?"

Lydia shot Sydney a look of frustration but the female alpha seemed unaffected by her face. Was it really that big of a deal to type something into Google? Did her suggestion really warrant being looked at like she was an idiot?

"What do you mean?" Lydia turned her head and looked at Malia.

"What if the numbers are actually letters?" Malia questioned and flipped the phone around so that it was facing Lydia now. Sydney rolled her eyes.

"Shocker, so it's not actually a phone number." Sydney grumbled and sighed in frustration. She was tired of babysitting teenagers and after her reluctant departure from Peter earlier, she was looking forward to just getting home and carrying on where he had left off. She just hoped that he was still as sexually charged as he had been when she walked out of the apartment.

Lydia grabbed for a pad of paper and a pen, quickly beginning to write out the alphabet in the groupings that they were placed on the keypad of the phone. Sydney kicked at the floor and remained silent, just watching the banshee in action. A few seconds later, Sydney glanced out at the sheriff and the deputy but her eyes were right back on Lydia as she made circles around certain letters.

Before Sydney could figure out what was going on, Lydia bent down and pulled a laptop out of her bag, quickly setting it up on the desk in front of her. Sydney looked on as a bunch of random symbols appeared on the screen and she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that this wasn't another part of the dead pool, and if it was, she prayed that her name wasn't there.

Seconds later she opened her eyes, scanning the list of names on the screen, looking for her name, or anyone else's she might know.

"Call Stiles!" Lydia demanded and Sydney pulled her phone out first, quickly dialing the familiar number. She handed the phone to Lydia and kept her eyes trained on the screen, trying to decipher what the numbers next to the names meant. "He has to know…he has to know these names."

Sydney pushed Lydia's remark to the back of her mind as she read the names in her head. She recognized a few, like Kate Argent's, but kept looking, studying each and every one. Lydia was rambling on to Stiles over the phone but Sydney had tuned her out, she was too busy looking at the last name on the list, a Jordan Parrish, with the number five next to it.

She turned her head to the side and looked at the sheriff just outside. Deputy Parrish was heading their way now and Sydney straightened up, ready to intervene before he could get close enough to see what the girls were doing. She wasn't sure what he was, there wasn't a scent she could pick up, but that didn't mean he needed to know what was going on, hell maybe he didn't even know what he was.

Lydia jumped as he opened the door and slammed the lid of her laptop shut. Sydney took a step forward, meeting him as he entered the room, and pressed her chest against his, trying to distract him as best as she could. She looked up at him through her lashes and prayed that she was successful in keeping him in the dark.

"Oh man, you scared us." Sydney murmured and took her bottom lip in between her teeth, watching as Parrish glanced down at her chest, which was still pressed against his. She took a step back and threw on her best sheepish look.

"No it's my fault. I'm sorry, I was just seeing if you guys were okay." He countered and Sydney reached a hand out, running her fingers down his bicep. He glanced behind Sydney and looked at Lydia. "You need a ride home?"

"Uh, no. We'll be fine." Lydia answered and Sydney let out a breath.

"You?" He asked and looked right into her eyes.

"No I have my car tonight." Sydney nodded.

She followed Parrish out of the room as he gently shut the door behind her. Sydney closed in on the sheriff and moved to stand in front of him. Deputy Parrish carried on walking towards the desk in the lobby and she glanced in his direction before finally meeting the sheriff's piercing gaze.

"I think I need to have a little talk with you." The sheriff said, his voice low so that only Sydney heard him. She nodded her understanding and tagged along behind him as he wandered towards the corner of the room, facing the corner and turning his back to the rest of the space. Sydney followed his lead and looked into his eyes, his kind, genuine eyes.

"A talk about what?" She asked, her voice just as low as his.

"That night in the school, but more specifically your choice in men. I'm aware that you're _dating_ Peter Hale, now I wouldn't normally get involved but Stiles has expressed his concern to me about your, well, boyfriend, is he your boyfriend?"

"Werewolves have mates." Sydney nodded. "He's mine."

"Oh, well…that's different. So he's your _mate_?"

"Yes."

"Well then I guess maybe what I want to know is _why_?"

"Because I love him. That's why I'm with him." Sydney answered in a whisper.

"Are you sure you don't want Deputy Parrish out there, he's an attractive young man, isn't he?"

"Sure but I-"

"He wouldn't stop talking about you the other day; I think maybe he's got a little bit of a tiny crush on you."

Sydney felt her heart pick up in pace. Okay so Deputy Parrish, Jordan she assumed, had a crush on her? That didn't change anything, she was mated to Peter, she loved him, he was the one who had stuck by her when she needed someone, he was the one who had given her a place to stay when she didn't have anywhere else to go.

"I love Peter." Sydney murmured.

"Okay but I just, I don't get it. Peter Hale doesn't strike me as relationship material."

"Yeah, well you don't have to tell me that but it doesn't change how I feel about him."

"You're a beautiful young woman; you could have anyone, literally anyone…"

"Sheriff the sex is amazing..." Sydney remarked and tossed him a small smirk. She was clearly toying with him now, for her own amusement.

"I'm uh, I'm sure that Deputy Parrish out there is just as- I can't do this, I can't say that. I'm just trying to understand. If he makes you happy then I guess it's none of my business."

"You don't have to worry about me." Sydney smiled and reached her hand out, gently taking hold of his hand. "I can handle myself."

"Alright, okay. If he gives you trouble though, you let me know."

"Okay." Sydney beamed at him and closed the distance between them. The sheriff's arms came around her in an embrace and she let her body relax against his. There was no romance, no feelings between them; he was merely an amazing male role model in her life, which was something she had been lacking ever since she had lost her grandfather. "And if you need me for anything, just give me a call."

"I will hold you to that."

She tucked her head under her chin and basked in the feeling of his hold. She let a smile grace her features and felt at east for the first time in a long time. It wasn't hard for her to conclude that Sheriff Stilinski gave the best hugs and Sydney found herself hoping that there would be many more to come.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_As always, I love hearing from you guys on anything from Sydney as a character, maybe you have questions about her life, her relationships with other people, her backstory, maybe there's something you don't like about her? Or something you want to know?_**

**_What did you guys think about Sydney giving Liam her little 'let me know if Scott and Stiles give you trouble' spiel? Should she have trusted Liam with her alpha secret? Do you think Sydney treated Lydia and Malia a little badly or do you think she's just giving them what they deserve? Also a little more sheriff/Sydney interaction, hope you guys still like them as a little bit of a familial support to each other._**

**_I'd love to hear what you all thought about this chapter! _**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_poorxbrokexcollegexkid: Peter's always looking for ways to keep her distracted and all to himself so that she doesn't get as involved. I'm glad you were entertained by the locker room conversation! _**

**_TheSourWolf1: It would certainly take a lot for Sydney and Peter to end, she's bonded to him and she loves him. They've been through a lot already and I think they have a pretty solid relationship foundation. I'd love to hear what you think about Sydney's friendships with the others as well._**

**_cecld16: Ah yes, very good point: don't trust anyone who's that close to Peter Hale. She's not stupid, she knows that Peter's not all butterflies and rainbows and hopefully she'll start to see his true colours soon enough. On the other hand, he was all she had at one point and now that she's starting to build friendships with other people, maybe she'll start to see that there's more out there for her. There will definitely be a few difficult decisions for her in the future regarding where her loyalties lie. _**

**_Guest: Sydney and Liam aren't going to be going head to head any time soon. She's sort of trying to take him under her wing without infringing too much on Scott's territory. AH yes, Peter is totally sketchy on a good day!_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Liam is like the little brother Sydney never had! She takes into account how innocent and oblivious he is to what's really going on now that he's a werewolf. Like she said to him this chapter: she just wants him to succeed. As for your Dumbledore comment...oh man, I cried so hard when that happened in the books, he was, by far, my favourite character._**

**_LirealAion: MORE LIAM! How did you like more Liam? Peter will always mess things up haha. Sydney can take a lot of messing up but she does have a breaking point. Stiles is definitely smart enough to realize that anything he says to her will get back to Peter, maybe he's covering his butt, maybe he's trying to keep her in the dark so that she won't end up in the middle of everything, either way, he's not going to keep things from her out of malice. Scott and Sydney have a rocky relationship at best but I think over time they'll at least come to understand each other. Syd already does not like Malia, I think her entire relationship with Stiles bothers her more than she lets on. She's very possessive over the people she cares about so I will just say that her and Malia will not be best friends any time soon. _**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	16. Chapter 16

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 16****:**

Being alone in the apartment didn't bother Sydney, at least not to start with. No she was an adult, and she was perfectly capable of being by herself. Peter had called her while she was in the car and informed her that he was going out to find Derek. She wasn't entirely sure what for though and if she was honest, she didn't really care to find out. She was tired, she was ready to just crawl into bed and she was definitely prepared to get home and get into something a little cooler than her jeans and leather jacket.

Soon after arriving back at the apartment and changing out of her clothes, she had settled into the couch and grabbed hold of the television remote, flipping the device on and going to work at surfing through the channels. She knew that Batman was maybe on but she figured she wasn't going to be that lucky. Maybe she could find a movie on, or a show that wasn't complete garbage. It wasn't until she landed on an old re-run of the Bugs Bunny and Tweety show that she paused before deciding that the Looney Tunes were almost as good as Batman, at the very least, it would certainly keep her entertained enough for the night.

Sydney's eyes never left the screen as she watched intently, Bugs Bunny conducting his orchestra, his white cuffs moving from wrist to wrist and back again, the classical music playing on in the background. She was amused yes, but still rather bored, rather lonely and still desperately hot.

It was a weird feeling, there were so many things that she _could_ be doing but she didn't really feel like doing them at all. Aside from lying down and perhaps taking a nap, nothing else seemed to appeal to her, not Bugs Bunny, not reading, nothing. With that realization, it hit her, the feeling of complete restlessness took over and even the cartoon in front of her couldn't keep her attention for any longer than a few seconds at a time.

She felt a slight itching on her forearm and brought her other hand up, rubbing her finger tips roughly across her skin. The itching subsided and she locked her eyes back on the screen but found herself still having a very, very difficult time focusing. She shut her eyes and hummed a tune, a tune that her dad had once whistled daily when he was alive. She smiled at the thought of her dad wandering through the house whistling before coming across her mother and breaking out into actual singing.

It wasn't by any means a romantic song, in fact it was rather depressing if she actually listened and paid attention to the lyrics but the tune itself is what made the song fun. Sydney couldn't help the smile breaking out on her face at the thought of her father.

"The jukebox is playin', a honky-tonk song." She murmured to herself and let out a giggle at the mental picture of her father nearly prancing around the kitchen singing the song, loudly and out of key, to her mother.

She lifted her hand up and scratched at her arm again, the itching sensation had returned and this time she dug her blunt human fingernails into her skin a little bit before scratching, desperate to sate the itch.

When the sensation dissipated, she let out a soft sigh and rose to her feet.

"One more, I keep sayin', and then I'll go home." She sung lowly and popped her hip out to the side along with the rhythm. She let out another giggle and strode into the kitchen. Was she hungry? Maybe but what she was aware of was that she was desperately bored.

She brought her nails up and scratched at her arm once again, this time she hadn't even really thought about it but as she scratched, the itching sensation just seemed to grow instead of doing what it should have done and disappeared. She shook her head and pressed her palm against her skin, rubbing furiously at her skin, feeling it heating up under the friction.

She kept going towards the kitchen and felt the slight ache in her legs now. Her calves felt the tiniest bit tighter than normal and her thighs felt like they were being stretched simply by the act of walking.

"What good will it do me, I know what I'll find…an empty bottle, a broken heart and you're still on my mind." She sang and stopped in front of the fridge. She rubbed at her arm once again and crossed her legs as she stood, trying to alleviate the dull aching in her lower extremities.

She stopped rubbing her arm and reached out, grabbing the handle on the fridge before pulling it open. The cool blast of air hit her warm skin and Sydney let out a sigh. Well at the very least the chill from the fridge was helping to lower her body temperature. Her eyes scanned the shelves inside but she couldn't, for the life of her, find anything that she was interested in eating or drinking. With a low hum, she shoved the door shut, let out a sigh at the lack of cold air, and squeezed her legs together tighter, letting out a soft moan at the sweet relief in her lower limbs.

She shut her eyes and pictured her father, once again, singing the very song that she was working on getting out now. Another smile erupted on her face and she instantly relaxed at the thought of her parents, of them still alive, smiling and laughing along with her. There were just some things that she'd never forget, no matter how much time passed or how many people came into her life. She'd always have the memories of her parents.

"The people are dancin', and havin' their fun and I sit here thinkin', about what you have done." She sang and opened her eyes. The itching had returned to her arm but a slight tingly sensation grew from the itching and worked its way up her arm to her shoulder. "To try and forget you, I've turned to the wine, an empty bottle, a broken heart, and you're still on my mind."

If she were human she would have seriously considered opening a bottle of booze and downing it until she passed out. Shame though, her supernatural abilities would impede her desire to get drunk. Instead of booze, Sydney turned around and glanced at the island, her eyes locking on her neglected cell phone.

Yes! She could call Peter; maybe he would come home at her beckoning and help her. Help her with what exactly? Well she wasn't entirely sure what her problem was but she knew that if Peter was in the apartment, she'd at least be able to entertain herself and she wouldn't be as bored as she was.

As she approached the island where her cell phone resided, she felt the itch spreading from her shoulder down over her back. When the uncomfortable feeling of something crawling on her skin erupted on her thighs, she let out a groan and brought her fingernails down before scratching violently.

Heat spread through her body and she felt her muscles contracting as she scratched. With both hands now, she tried desperately to get rid of the feeling of bugs crawling under her skin. She let out another soft moan and paused in her scratching long enough to grab on to her phone and dial the familiar number of Peter Hale.

"Alone and forsaken, so blue I could cry, I just sit here drinkin', 'til the bottle runs dry." She murmured and listened to the phone ringing. She waited until his voicemail kicked in before letting out a growl of frustration. She hit the redial button and waited, hoping that he'd get the hint that she really, _really_ needed to reach him.

She didn't doubt that if he was in the middle of something that he'd blatantly ignore her call but she didn't know what to do, she was hot, she was itchy, her skin was starting to feel dry and tight and she was having a hard time trying to find something to do that didn't involve her scratching her skin right off.

At the sound of his voicemail, for the second time, Sydney let out another growl and threw her phone across the room, watching as it hit the couch with a soft thud. She hauled herself up onto the island and sat, her thighs now red and nearly raw from the scratching, her hips aching from her seat on the hard surface, but none of it mattered. She was finding herself feeling hot, and not just in the temperature sense, the cool tile countertop of the island was a sweet relief to her skin.

Arousal? Was that what was happening to her? Was she so aroused that she was desperate for Peter's touch, so desperate that without it her skin felt like it was being attacked by a million red fire ants?

"What good will it do me, I know what I'll find…" She trailed off and ran her fingers, claws out now, across her stomach. "An empty bottle, a broken heart, and you're still on my mind."

She hauled her shirt up, exposing her abdomen and back, before lying down on the chilly tile island top. Sydney pressed her claws into her skin and felt the warm liquid rush out from her pierced epidermis. A loud, obnoxious moan floated out of her throat and she relaxed on the island top, gently shifting backwards so that more of her burning body came into contact with the cool tiles.

She pushed her claws deeper into her stomach and felt the sweet relief of the itching, as well as a pain so intense that she knew this was what she had to do to the rest of her body. It was aching but at the same time the pain had made the itching stop and not just temporarily.

She ran her hands down to her leg and gripped her thighs so tightly she let out a hiss from the sharp, shooting, piercing sensation. Her claws ripped and shredded the skin on her thighs and Sydney shut her eyes, basking in the sweet relief.

"An empty bottle, a broken heart, and you're still on my mind." She hummed and continued her assault on her body.

She brought both of her hands up, grabbed hold of both of her biceps and ripped into her skin with the most erotic moan she had ever found herself producing. She felt every drop of blood flooding out of her body and she knew that what she had done was rather alarming, if she had been in her right mind. She didn't care though; all she cared about was the heavenly bliss of no longer feeling the itch.

Sydney slowly made her way into a sitting position and she hopped off the island. There was only one thing left to do and she knew exactly how to do it. She swiped at her bleeding thighs with her palms and brought her hands up to her nose, inhaling the coppery scent of her blood. A smile broke out on her face and she pranced into the bathroom.

Her blood caked hand reached out and turned on the faucet before she roughly drove her hands into the stream of water. The blood on her hands disappeared down the drain and Sydney watched in awe as the water turned from crystal clear to a dirty, murky brown.

When she had gotten her hands sufficiently clean, she grabbed the spare roll of toilet paper and ripped off a huge wad, gently rubbing at her skin, running the toilet paper under the freezing cold water before going right back to cleaning her body off.

After a few minutes of this process, she had successfully gotten the bleeding to slow down enough that she wouldn't make a mess when she climbed into bed. Before that happened though, she sidestepped away from the sink and pulled the door to the medicine cabinet open, her eyes scanning for-

"Yes, sleeping pills!" She beamed and her hand shot out, grabbing hold of the bottle. She twisted the cap off and dumped half of the contents into her palm. With a mental count to three, she brought her palm up to her mouth, took the pills into her mouth and forced them down her throat.

She put the lid back on the pill bottle and quickly put it back on the shelf. Her legs carried her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom where she stripped off her jeans and t-shirt. She stood there in her bra and underwear, debating what she wanted to wear to bed. Reaching around behind her, she unhooked her bra and let it fall to the ground.

With swift movements, she bent down, opening the middle drawer on the dresser, and took hold of one of Peter's t-shirts, pulling it on over her head and slamming the drawer shut in the process. She inhaled a deep breath and relished in the comfort his scent provided her.

Sydney flopped onto the bed and buried her legs under the covers, bringing them up to her thighs. She didn't want them up any higher in case Peter got upset over potential bloodstains. With her last moments of consciousness, Sydney tangled her one hand in her hair and squirmed so that she was lying on her back. Her eyes drifted shut and she couldn't help but smile as her body turned to goo. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Peter wasn't going to tell Sydney that he missed her, no that would make him seem needy and Peter Hale was _not_ needy, but that didn't mean that he enjoyed it when she ran off. So maybe he had been the one to finally convince her to go to Mexico with Stiles and Scott, not to mention the rest of Scott's little gang of misfits, and even still he was a little hesitant in playing his part in getting her to go.

He wanted her to be involved in their lives, to get the inside scoop into the goings on within Scott's pack. He wanted her to get to know Scott's new beta, hell he didn't even mind it when Sydney came home reporting new information back to him that she had gotten on Malia, his child, the child that Sydney so nicely denounced as not needing him at all. To be fair to his alpha, and his daughter though, Peter hadn't even known about her until recently and she was already a teenager. She seemed to be fine without him in her life; Sydney had nailed that one right on the head.

The idea of stepping up and being a father hadn't exactly crossed his mind though. He wasn't looking at Malia as his child, no, he was definitely looking at her as a tool, a person that could potentially help him get what he wanted, which was what he always wanted. Sydney didn't get it, she constantly made remarks about her being enough for him but there was a certain feeling that came with holding all the cards. Peter didn't want to give up the power.

Yet he had, as soon as he had seen her limp body lying motionless on the table in the vet's office, he had given up his own alpha spark without thinking about it. It wasn't that he wished he had left Sydney to die, that wasn't it at all. He genuinely cared about her and he wasn't lying when he said he loved her. He just wished that he had put a little more thought and planning into it. Maybe Deaton would have been able to get her through, to pull her away from death's hands without him giving up what he had worked so hard to gain.

Then again he was mated to one of the most amazing werewolves he had ever laid eyes on. Sydney Vance was nothing short of perfection and with the right guidance she could be the most powerful alpha ever. He knew that she was special, that she wasn't just an omega when she had knocked on his door. She was a born werewolf, one who had the will, the motivation, to want more.

Peter hadn't exactly been thrilled when she had pranced out into the kitchen and announced that she had become an alpha but he had been thoroughly impressed that she managed to do it on her own. She had been smart enough to track down the fallen alpha pack member and strike a deal with Deucalion without Peter's help at all. Sydney was more than just a flawless body; she had a strong mind too.

Slinking towards the vet's office though, Peter slipped inside and made his way quietly into the back room where he could easily hear the struggle. It didn't take much to figure out that the Stilinski boy was in the back along with his nephew, his odour was almost overpowering and Peter had smelled it as soon as he set foot on the property.

There were a few reasons why he had journeyed out of his apartment that night. The first reason was to catch up with Derek, to see if he could pinpoint exactly what was going on with him. The yellow eyes had alarmed him and he wanted to know more about what had happened. Peter needed to figure out what was going on, what Kate had done to him, and figuring it all out was the type of thing that Peter needed to do himself. There was no sense sending Sydney in, she'd be too busy making nice with Derek and Stiles and actually helping them. No, he didn't have time for that and he was quickly losing his patience.

The other reason he had ventured out of the apartment was so that he could get his hands on some drugs, tranquilizers to be more specific. Sydney had meant it as a joke when she had announced that she had figured out a solution to her heat once mating season came into play but he had taken it seriously. Tranquilizers would work well, not to mention she'd be rendered pretty much useless to the rest of the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills. He could keep her sedated and out of trouble at the same time, it was a total win-win for him.

He couldn't help the small smile spreading over his face now, if there was one thing that the vet's office was good for, well it was certainly drugs that would work on both animals and werewolves.

Peter rounded the corner and scanned the occupants in the room. The vet was there standing next to the familiar metal table, while Derek and Stiles struggled to hold down a convulsing teenager, a kid that Peter wasn't familiar with. Perhaps this was Scott's new beta Liam.

He listened for a few minutes as Stiles and Derek argued, watching carefully as they continued to struggle to get the convulsing boy to lay still. Yellow goop exploded from the kid's mouth and Peter merely shook his head at what was going on in front of him while Deaton remained off to the side, gathering his bearings.

"What the hell is happening to this kid?" Stiles was frantic and Peter couldn't help but feel slightly amused at the entire situation. Here was the lowly human trying to help Derek, the former alpha, get a werewolf teenager to stop convulsing and there wasn't anything he could really do.

"He's been poisoned by a rare wolfsbane. I need to make an incision and you need to hold him as still as possible." Deaton stated as he waltzed around the end of the table, holding a scalpel in his hands, ready to use it on the kid. Peter rolled his shoulders back and took a deep breath, preparing himself to make his presence known; now all he had to do was wait for the right time.

"Hey, Derek, how about a little werewolf strength?" Stiles ground out; clearly frustrated at how much convulsing the boy was still doing.

"Yeah, I'm not the only one here with werewolf strength." Derek shot back and stole a glance down at the body on the table, the body that would not stop jerking back at forth. It was certainly times like these that Peter realized how incompetent his nephew really was.

"If you can't hold him still, the incision might kill him." Deaton broke in, his voice firm and demanding.

Peter had to bite back a chuckle but then his eye caught sight of the kid coming back to consciousness. His mind drifted to Sydney, his own alpha, and suddenly it all hit him at once. She could have died, she could have taken the tomahawk to the chest, she had deliberately put herself in front of him, on more than one occasion, and for what? Peter knew she deserved better sometimes but she had chosen him and she was clearly willing to die for him.

Maybe he should have given her credit where credit was due. So far in her reign as alpha she had managed to keep most people alive. Would she turn out to be like Scott; a true alpha, a noble man, or would she ultimately turn into what he had once become; a power hungry psychopath?

"Derek, he's slipping." Stiles' voice pulled Peter out of his own head and he locked his eyes on the human, his irises glowing blue. "I don't think I can hold him."

The kid on the table sat upright and threw his arms out to the side, tossing Deaton against the wall and forcing Stiles and Derek away from the table.

With a twist of his head, Peter dropped his arms down to his sides, balled his fingers into fists and stepped into the room, confidence in every stride. His fist met the kid's jaw and the boy collapsed, his body crumpling to the ground.

"I guess I still have a little werewolf strength myself." Peter remarked and gazed at Derek, blinking away his icy blue eyes.

"Maybe more than a little." Derek shot back, his eyes locked on Peter for a split second before he looked down at his arm, which had been scratched in the scuffle.

"Hey, Doc, I don't think he's breathing." Stiles broke in and Peter remained standing in his spot inside the doorway, watching as Deaton crouched down next to the boy. The vet didn't seem to waste any time as he poised the scalpel against the kid's chest and began cutting down his sternum.

The kid on the floor began gasping and a couple of seconds later a cloud of yellow smoke erupted from the incision. Stiles gaped at the sight and Derek watched on in awe. Peter cocked his head and stared at Derek, whose claw wounds closed up on his forearm.

"Is he okay?" Stiles questioned but neither Hale was paying much attention to the scene around them. Peter was too busy looking at Derek and Derek was distracted by his healing arm.

"I think he'll be fine, but probably out for a while." Deaton answered easily.

The teenager on the floor began mumbling and Peter slowly peeled his attention away from Derek, looking now at the boy on the floor. Derek followed Peter's lead and watched carefully as the strange wolf's lips moved.

"Guys, can you hear that? I think he's saying something." Stiles pointed out.

Peter didn't need to get any closer; he tuned his ears in to the kid's low voice and listened from his stance a few feet away. It wasn't hard to figure out what the boy was saying; in fact it was more of a chant, as though by repeating the words over and over again, he'd will himself to get better.

"The sun, the moon, the truth. The sun, the moon, the truth." The kid repeated the words over and over again. Deaton leaned in closer, putting his ear near his mouth. He listened for a few seconds before backing away and settling on his knees.

"Three things cannot long be hidden. The sun, the moon, and the truth." Deaton turned to face Derek, who was staring right back, a look of recognition on his face. "It's Buddhist."

Without wasting any more time, Peter locked his gaze onto Derek and cocked his head to the side. He knew exactly what the kid was chanting and he figured that Derek recognized the chant as well.

"Satomi." Peter offered up and looked around the room. Derek stepped forward and closed the distance between him and the fallen werewolf. Peter's eyes never left Derek's form as he hauled the kid up off the floor and situated him back on the table.

"What's that?" Stiles piped up and took his place next to the table, Deaton handing the human a damp cloth to clean the kid up with.

"Not a what, a who." Derek countered and twisted his body around, glaring at Peter.

Peter knew that Derek didn't look too pleased with him yet he didn't even flinch, he wasn't going to back down from Derek simply because of a glare. His nephew could be upset with him all he wanted, Peter didn't care. Derek hadn't taken the robbery seriously and he had certainly made it clear where his allegiance fell the night in the school when Peter had wandered in on the sheriff working side by side with Derek.

"Okay, then who's Satomi." Stiles interjected.

"Where's Syd tonight?" Derek asked in a growl, ignoring Stiles question completely.

"The last I saw of her, she was on her way out the door, heading to the school because this one called her." Peter answered and motioned in Stiles' direction. "Saying something about a dead pool."

"She ran off before the game even started." Stiles raised his hands defensively. "I haven't seen her since."

Derek shook his head at the two of them but turned his back towards Peter, looking over the unconscious boy's body while Stiles watched on. Peter closed the distance between him and Deaton but bypassed the man completely, sauntering into the adjoining room. His eyes studied the shelves and the counters, looking for tranquilizers.

Deaton had followed him into the room, he knew because he had heard the footsteps. The vet hung back but kept his eyes trained on Peter and when Peter turned around, he smirked at the vet.

"Let's get on with more pressing matters." Peter drawled and focused his attention on the man standing in front of him. Deaton didn't seem too concerned, he wasn't alarmed that Peter was in his building, and he certainly wasn't shocked by his demand that they get down to business.

"What is it that you want?" Deaton questioned calmly and Peter had to hand it to the man. This wasn't the first time he had remained calm in the face of Peter's wrath and it most likely wouldn't be the last.

"I need something that has the ability to render another werewolf unconscious."

"May I ask who this 'other werewolf' is?"

Peter tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms over his chest, "Sydney."

There was no sense hiding who the drugs were intended for. At the very least, Peter expected Deaton to be slightly more willing to help him out if he knew that Sydney was involved. She wasn't a stranger to the vet and the last time he was in the other room, Sydney laying nearly dead on the table, Deaton seemed to be genuinely concerned about her. It definitely helped that the female alpha and Scott got along fairly easily as well.

"Does this have something to do with you giving up your alpha powers to keep her alive?" Deaton questioned, his voice even and smooth. "You're not planning on stealing it back from her, are you?"

"Don't let the rumours surrounding me prevent you from making an accurate assumption. I'm not trying to steal anything from her; in fact, technically, I'm trying to keep something _from_ her."

"While I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of helping _you_, she's done nothing that would suggest I've made an enemy out of her."

"Well then now that the pleasantries are out of the way…"

"May I ask why you require something that will render her unconscious?" Deaton asked and stepped to the side, leaning against the cupboards now as he locked his gaze on Peter.

"You're familiar with mated female werewolves-"

"Is this, by any chance, related to her estrous cycle?"

"You really are an intelligent man." Peter said, his voice laced with sarcasm. "She's informed me that she's not willing to bear children and her solution was-"

"Sedatives." Deaton cut him off and Peter narrowed his eyes on the man, clearly displeased at him interrupting. "Have you considered hormones?"

"I haven't considered much to be honest, I just want you to give me something to keep her from acting on her urges, whatever that _something _may be."

Deaton studied Peter for a few seconds before a small smile broke out on his face. He lifted his hand up, his finger extended, and signaled for Peter to give him just one minute. Peter didn't bother responding as the vet strode out of the room, leaving Peter all alone in the dimly lit space.

A few minutes later Deaton wandered back into the room and gently set a few bottles of liquid, and another bottle full of pills, onto the counter between them. He scooted them over the counter and moved them so that they resided in front of Peter.

"That should do it. The tablets should be used during the day; they'll merely supress her hormones so that she doesn't react to her estrous cycle as badly as she would without them. She'll still be rather drowsy but she'll be awake and for the most part coherent. The liquid is a powerful sedative, I advise you to use it at night because she'll be put into a deep, sedated sleep. If _she_ has any questions, feel free to have _her_ call me."

Peter's eyes widened at the doctor's explanation. Deaton clearly wanted to make sure that Peter knew who he was really doing all this for and it certainly wasn't him. Peter figured that if it had been any other female that he had decided to mate himself with, Deaton wouldn't have given a second thought to just kicking him out of the clinic and sending him on his way but Sydney had managed to weasel her way into this man's heart.

"I'll pass that on to her." Peter remarked and gathered up the supplies. He looked at the vet one last time before stepping around him and heading back into the room with the unconscious wolf, the young boy lying on the table in what looked like a peaceful slumber.

Stiles moved across the room to stand in front of Peter and the older male stopped walking, looking down into the human's eyes. He didn't have to look behind him to know that Derek had taken a step forward too; clearly worried that Peter might take a swing at Stiles. He couldn't fault his nephew; the boy was something special, something worth protecting.

"Tell Syd to call me, I _really_ need to talk to her." Stiles said confidently and Peter tilted his head to the side in contemplation.

"I'll be sure to give her the message." Peter drawled and forced a smirk in Stiles' direction. He brushed past the human and continued on his way out of the clinic.

It wasn't until he was outside, away from the group of people inside, that he let out a breath. He wasn't necessarily scared but he was clearly outnumbered and most of them knew what he was capable of. Without a second of hesitation, Peter took off into the darkness, heading for home, where he was hoping that he might find Sydney.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_First off, the song Sydney was singing is called "You're Still On My Mind" by The Byrds._**

**_As always, I love hearing from you guys on anything from Sydney as a character, maybe you have questions about her life, her relationships with other people, her backstory, maybe there's something you don't like about her? Or something you want to know?_**

**_What did you guys think about Sydney and her little descent into singing? What do you think is going on with her? And Peter seeking out Deaton for help, how do you guys like that? Not to mention, Derek asking where Sydney was, do you think he's genuinely concerned or he was merely asking to steer the conversation in another direction?_**

**_I'd love to hear what you all thought about this chapter! _**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Fair point, I think Liam would have a stronger friendship with Scott than Sydney too. In Liam's eyes, Sydney's this random werewolf who's friends with Stiles and I didn't get the impression that Liam was overly loyal to Stiles either. Hey, he'll take what he can get though, especially when Scott's MIA because he's a berserker in Mexico lol. _**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW: Sydney and Liam will totally be bros! _**

**_SarcasticEnigma: Sydney doesn't take anyone's flack! She's going to dish it out as best as she can. Papa Stilinski is her new voice of reason haha. There's definitely more Parrish to look forward too! _**

**_LirealAion: Ah yes, when Peter gets called in to talk to Meredith...things will definitely get pretty tense. Malia didn't stand a chance at being Sydney's friend, not with her real last name being Hale :P_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	17. Chapter 17

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 17****:**

The apartment was quiet, too quiet, and if Peter didn't have super hearing abilities, he would not have caught the sounds of Sydney snoring softly from the bedroom. Fighting back the smile that was desperately trying to make its way onto his lips, he crossed the threshold and kicked off his shoes.

He was tired, exhausted even, and crawling into bed next to Sydney seemed to be the best thing to happen to him that day. She always made things seem better, maybe not completely right but definitely better and after the day that he had, boy he needed her.

With the door shut behind him, Peter dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone with the intention of setting it on the island. All he wanted was a decent night's sleep curled up next to Sydney, no distraction, no reason to have to get up any earlier than he wanted to, just a peaceful slumber with his mate in his hold.

Before the phone could even be set on the counter, a text message alert flashed across the screen and Peter lifted the phone up in front of his face, eyeing up the new message.

"Derek?" He muttered to himself and quickly opened the message, reading each word carefully.

_Might want to consider doing something about Syd, I could __**really **__smell her on you at the vet's._

Smell her? Smell her how? What was different about today compared to any other day? Sure he was bound to smell like her a little bit, they were mates, and with all the time they spent rubbing against each other, he was surprised that he didn't smell more like her than he already did.

Peter tossed the phone to the counter, not even bothering to reply, and took a deep inhale. Was that blood? Sydney's blood? Well now _he_ could definitely really smell Sydney too but it didn't seem to be too much stronger than normal, aside from the hint of blood mixed in with her usual aroma. So what the hell was Derek worried about?

Brushing off his nephew's concern, he wandered into the apartment further and headed right for the bedroom. He had his ears perked, listening for sounds of agony. If he could smell blood that easily, that meant that she had to be pretty hurt. WaIs that what Derek was referring too, the scent of her blood?

"Sydney?" He called out softly to her as he walked into the darkened room. He could just barely make out her outline in the bed, her one hand tangled in her hair, her other one resting on her hip. The covers were only pulled up to about the middle of her thigh and Peter wandered into the room farther, stepping up beside the bed and flipping the switch on the lamp, lighting up the dark room.

He let out a growl at the sight, someone had hurt her, someone had attacked her. She had gone out, yet again, to help Stiles and had come back worse for wear. There were claw marks covering her body: deep, festering wounds everywhere he looked. There were four deep gashes along her right bicep, so deep Peter would be surprised if he couldn't see bone. There was a matching set on her left forearm, crescent moon shaped cuts as well, probably from claws or fingernails breaking skin.

His eyes roamed downwards, taking in the rest of her wounded body. Her shirt was scrunched up to just under her breasts, and her stomach, where it would normally be taut, clean and injury free, contained more wounds, these one even deeper than the ones on her arms. Peter cautiously reached out and ran his fingertips along her skin next to the cuts, watching as her body twitched slightly.

Another growl escaped his throat and he dropped down carefully to sit on the edge of the bed, his hand now moving to rest on her hip as he gently pushed the blankets down, exposing her thighs. There were even more claw marks there, although these ones weren't as deep, but Peter gave her hip a gentle shove and she began to stir.

"Sydney." He murmured and leaned down closer to her ear. She let out a groan and the hand that was tangled in her hair came free, her palm pressing against her forehead now as she rolled away from him the tiniest bit. "Sydney."

He watched carefully as her legs curled up and her hand that had been resting on her hip moved upwards, her fingers scratching at the skin surrounding her wounds. Peter reached out and took hold of her wrist, pulling her fingers away from the cuts before she could hurt herself, and as soon as his grip met her wrist, she opened her eyes and stared at him, blinking rapidly to expel the fuzziness of her vision from waking up.

"Hi." She whispered and relaxed into the covers, burying her face in the pillows as she pulled her wrist out of his grasp before shoving it underneath her head.

"What happened to you?" Peter asked, concern lacing his tone. She shut her eyes and let out a sigh before stretching her legs out, wincing from her wounds in the process.

"What do you mean?" She questioned right back and rolled onto her back, forcing her eyes open yet again, vibrant red irises locking onto him. A loud yawn escaped her mouth and she brought her knees way upwards now, her eyes landing on her shredded thighs.

"What do you think I mean? Were you attacked? Should I be concerned about leaving you alone in the future?"

"Attacked…" She repeated his word but shook her head no. "I haven't left the apartment since I got back from the sheriff's station. And no, I wasn't attacked."

"Then who did that," Peter pointed to her thighs, and then her stomach before his eyes finally landed on her arms, "to you?"

"Oh, shit, yeah. I did that." She nodded and took a second to study her still open wounds. Her palms pressed against her ripped apart thighs and she let out a hiss of pain.

"Why would you do that?"

"It was the only way I could get it to stop." She answered but shied away from his piercing gaze.

"Get what to stop?" Peter narrowed his eyes on her and leaned over her body, meeting her eyes. "Sydney-"

"I don't know what was going on okay, all I know is that I was lying here and I couldn't stop itching. I mean I scratched and scratched until it hurt and then it just felt too good to stop so I just kept scratching."

"You were itchy, so you destroyed-"

"It felt like my skin was too tight for my body, not to mention I was so fucking hot." She cut him off and traced the claw marks on her stomach carefully. "I tried to call you but you weren't answering so, I don't know, I figured it out on my own."

Peter dropped down to lie next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him. Sydney squirmed slightly but relaxed in his hold, her palm resting gingerly against his chest as she looked up at him, her eyes wide. Before he could think about what he was doing, he brought his hand out and brushed her hair away from her face.

"Apart from being itchy, was there anything else going on?" He asked softly.

"I don't know, all I know is that I wanted it to stop so I ripped into my skin, downed half a bottle of sleeping pills and said 'to hell with it'."

"Hold on, explain this to me as best as you can. You were itchy, your skin felt too tight so you scratched so hard you ripped right into your flesh producing incredibly deep wounds, then you felt the need to sleep so you took a bunch of sleeping pills? Is that it?"

"Basically,yeah. My legs kind of hurt too I guess, it felt like someone was trying to pull my hips apart." She sighed and began tracing hearts, with her fingertip, on his chest. "I wanted you here."

"Because you thought I'd know how to help you?"

"Um we can go with that, sure." She nodded but there was something off about her tone.

"Why don't you try telling me why you _really_ wanted me here?" Peter offered and found himself smiling down at her, almost to reassure her that he was willing to listen, no matter how absurd her reasons may seem.

"I just really missed you." She breathed out and looked up at him, holding his gaze.

"I was only gone for a little while, you knew what I was doing and that I'd be back shortly, why would you possibly-"

"I know okay, it sounds stupid right?"

"I wasn't going to say it sounded stupid-"

"But this time was different. I mean yeah I miss you when you're gone normally but this time it was like…I don't know; I needed you here, with me."

"When did it all start?"

"A few hours ago." Sydney answered and yawned.

Werewolf or not, she had downed way too many sleeping pills in an attempt to calm herself down and she was still very, very tired. In her mind, an abundance of sleeping pills seemed like a better way to try to deal with whatever she was dealing with as opposed to mauling her limbs until she bled out. Her body, currently, was still tired and she wasn't feeling very awake. If she didn't get back to sleep soon, she knew that the tightness in her skin would come back, hell it was already starting to itch the tiniest bit on her shoulder.

"Did you try a cold shower?" Peter murmured and watched her hand move away from his chest as she absentmindedly scratched at her hip now too.

"No but a shower does sound nice." She paused and took her bottom lip between her teeth. "But only if you join me."

"I don't know if that's really a good idea."

"Why not?" She shot back.

"Sydney remember before we became mates, I asked you what your plan was-"

"Hang on." She shifted away from him and moved into a sitting position. The blankets fell off her legs and she sat there, glaring at him, in nothing more than a t-shirt and a pair of underwear. "Heat's supposed to be at-"

"The end of summer, I'm aware."

"Then what the hell are you talking about?" She felt the tears welling up in her eyes, the immense itching sensation flooding her veins, the heat returning to her body. When she moved her arms to cross them over her chest, her skin felt like dried out rubber bands, ready to crack and break at the slightest tension. "I'm not pregnant am I?"

He moved to an upright position and gingerly rested his palm on her bare knee. She looked terrified, completely defeated even. Peter took a few seconds to study her, concentrating his hearing in an attempt to listen for a tiny heartbeat that may have become hidden behind the powerful beating of her own. He heard nothing, which was precisely what he was expecting. Then he took a deep breath and let her scent flood his nostrils, aside from the blood, she smelled very much like Sydney, and Sydney alone. He was no doctor but it was safe to assume that she was baby free.

"Not as far as I can tell, I think that maybe you're just coming into heat late. It's not hard to theorize that with everything that's been going on, you're incredibly stressed. I've heard that stress can play a factor in the timing of a female's heat cycle."

"Late? Stressed, no shit…Jesus! Heat now though! I can't- this isn't happening…Peter I can't go to Colorado now, not when-"

"I know Sydney. I wouldn't expect you to leave at a time like this. So what do you want me to do?" He wasn't going to just tell her about the sedatives he had acquired from Deaton, not yet anyways. Peter knew that she was only in the beginning portion of her heat and that he'd definitely need the drugs for when it got really bad. Hell he was already feeling the pull on his own body, the desire to make her feel better was scratching at the surface.

"Well for starters I want you to help me kill the bitch that burned down my house." She stated and let out a growl at the end of her sentence. "Then I want you to fuck me until I can't walk straight."

"I will do everything in my power to help you get to Kate and as wonderfully savage as that other part sounds, unless you've suddenly decided that you want children, I can't do that."

"Well…" She let out a small humming noise and slowly uncrossed her arms. "Can you just rub my back?"

"Now that I can definitely do."

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Peter hadn't been expecting Sydney to sleep for as long as she had. After he had come home to find her mauled and bleeding, he had done exactly what she had asked for and rubbed her back. Sydney had fallen right back to sleep and had only gotten up once after the sun had risen to go to the bathroom, grab a glass of water and head right back to bed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had most likely downed the rest of the bottle of sleeping pills at the same time she had gone to use the bathroom.

He couldn't exactly blame her. She had described what it had felt like to him and he couldn't even begin to imagine just how hard it was for her to deal with the itching, the hotness of her skin, her heat, especially without him nearby. He wouldn't admit it out loud, to anyone, but he was starting to feel it too, the pull on his body worsening with each passing second.

Part of him wanted to jump into the bed with her, to rouse her from sleep and give into the primal urges that had been brought upon by her heat but a bigger part of him knew that that wouldn't end well. She didn't want children and he wasn't about to try and convince her otherwise, at least not until she was back in her right mind.

It wasn't that he, himself, wanted children but the idea of having someone who could fulfill his legacy long after he was gone struck a chord with him. With Sydney being as truly powerful as she was, their child would be nothing short of spectacular, but now wasn't the time for children, especially when he was merely a beta. No, in order for his child to be the most exceptional werewolf ever, he'd need to be an alpha again.

He was pulled away from his thoughts as Sydney sauntered lazily out of the bedroom. It was late in the afternoon, almost into the evening, and he had spent most of the day just puttering around the apartment, trying to figure out his next move. He knew he had to hunt Kate down, he had to strike a deal with her but he knew that Sydney wouldn't be up for that, he'd be lucky if she even spoke to him if he just went ahead and hunted the former hunter down.

"What are you doing?" She questioned and dropped down next to him on the couch. He had an old book resting on his lap and he had been staring straight ahead, thinking about what he wanted.

"I was just thinking." Peter answered smoothly and she curled up against him, tucking her body against his.

"About me?" She purred and set one of her palms on his shoulder, the other one on his thigh.

"Always." He replied and slipped his arm around her, pulling her tight against him. She dropped her head down and rested it against his shoulder. "I'm impressed by how well you're handling everything."

"Yeah well I went through a bottle of sleeping pills in less than a day." She remarked and subtly rubbed the side of her face against his shoulder. "We're out now so you need to get more."

"What if I told you that I have something better?"

Sydney's eyes widened as she tilted her head and looked up at him. He smiled down at her and gently pushed her away from him. She followed his lead and rose up to her feet, trailing along behind him and pausing when he did to set the book on the island top. Sydney reached out and grabbed his hand, taking hold of it. She continued to follow him and when he led her into the bathroom, she let out a small whimper.

Her mind drifted back to when she had stood off to the side and watched Scott and Stiles forcing Liam to remain under the cascading fall of the water until he regained control. She figured that Peter wasn't opposed to punishment in the form of either scalding hot or freezing cold water and she tensed at the thought. When the muscles in her hand tightened, she gripped his hand harder and he turned to face her, a concerned look etched on his face.

"What's wrong?" He asked and took a step closer to her, running a hand through her hair and pushing it away from her face.

"What are you going to do to me?" She asked right back, her voice was small and she sounded almost scared.

He took a minute and studied her nearly terrified expression. She had never really looked scared before and he wasn't entirely sure how to react to her. Peter merely hoped that she was acting off because of her heat and nothing more. To have her legitimately afraid, especially at a time like this, didn't bode well for either of them.

"I'm not going to _do_ anything to you." Peter answered softly, trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to hurt her, if that's what she had been thinking. "I got you something."

Sydney let out a small sigh and dropped her butt down onto the edge of the tub, not bothering to let go of his hand. Peter squatted down in front of her and watched as she brought her free hand up, running her fingernails along her forearm to scratch the itch that had no doubt been bothering her since she had woken up.

"You got me something?" She echoed his words softly.

"Yes, while I was helping Derek, I managed to get my hands on something that might help you." Peter explained vaguely and he gently slipped his hand out of hers, rising back up to his full height. She crossed her arms over her chest and willed her body to stop itching. Her skin was hot, yet again, and just the sight of Peter had her wanting him.

"An empty bottle, a broken heart…and you're still on my mind." She hummed the same song as the night before. Her voice was barely audible and as weird as it sounded in her head, the tune was rather calming, the image of her father seemed to soothe her a little bit.

"What are you talking about?" Peter glanced back at her and studied her confused expression. She looked lost, totally and completely lost.

"Talking, well, no, I was singing. It's a song." She countered and rolled her shoulders back, trying to alleviate the stiffness in her arms. "My dad used to sing it to me and my mom."

"Okay then why are you singing it now?"

"I don't know. I was singing it last night too and it just, it- I miss them."

Peter watched her face fall but swiftly took a deep inhale of the room. She stilled smelled like she was in heat but there was something slightly off, something unusual. She brought her bottom lip in between her teeth and looked up at him, tears welling up in her eyes. Maybe this was a good thing, maybe he could use her emotions to help her control her heat.

"I'm sure your parents would be proud of you." Peter murmured and moved towards the medicine cabinet, pulling the doors open and shifting a few items out of the way so that he could get to the drugs that Deaton had given him. He had hidden them to start with, fearful that Sydney might have locked her eyes on them and downed more than the recommended dose, which would prove to be a lot more dangerous than if the bottles contained normal, human strenghth sleeping pills.

"I think they probably figured I'd end up with someone a little…" she trailed off and tossed a few words around in her head before deciding on the ones she would voice out loud, "less old."

"I'm not old."

"_Older_." She argued and uncrossed her arms and moved her hands down, pressing her palms against the edge of the tub. "Do you think that I was planned?"

"What do you mean exactly?"

"Do you think that my parents wanted me or do you think I was just the product of my mom not making it away in time for mating season?"

Peter took hold of the bottles inside the medicine cabinet and clutched them in his hand. He flipped the doors shut and turned to face her before dropping down to sit on the closed lid of the toilet.

"Does it really matter?" He countered. "I'm sure you were their proudest accomplishment."

Sydney glanced down at the bathroom floor and let out a sigh. She crossed her legs at the ankles and squeezed her thighs together, Peter watching her carefully. He was fully aware how hard it must have been for her to deal with the beginning of heat by herself, but she _had_ figured out a way to distract herself.

"Is that how you feel about Malia then?" Sydney brought her eyes up, which were full of unshed tears.

"I don't know." He answered honestly and watched her eyes. As soon as she blinked, tears erupted from both of her eyes and trailed down her smooth, flawless skin, landing on her bare thighs and leaving tiny little wet spots.

"God, I'm sorry." She sucked in a breath and moved her hands up, swiping at the stray tears. "I hate crying."

Peter's jaw clenched at the sight in front of him. Sydney crying was a very rare sight and it broke his heart to see her so sad. He hated that he was in his current situation, especially when it came to Malia and Sydney, but he wasn't entirely sure what to do. Sydney was his mate, she was the one woman who he couldn't bear to live without but Malia was his child. That had to mean something to Sydney, didn't it?

"You're allowed to cry." Peter said softly and even though there were so many other things he could have said to her, he wasn't sure they were what she wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry." She paused and furiously wiped at the remaining tears before bringing her head up and locking her eyes onto his, which were glowing blue. "Anyways, what'd you get me?"

Peter extended his hands out to her and offered her the contents. She took hold of the bottles, one containing pills, the other containing liquid, and studied them carefully. She tried to read the labels but when she came across the medical terms for what was inside, she scrunched her face up and let out a scoff.

"The pills are to help you get through the days and the liquid is a very powerful sedative."

"You got me drugs?" She looked at him in disbelief. "As far as gifts go, I think I would have preferred jewelry or money."

"It's for your heat." Peter said and rolled his eyes at her. "When I was at Deaton's-"

"Hang on; you went to Deaton's to get drugs for me? Deaton should hate you." Sydney pointed out. "I mean, a lot of people hate you but _he_ should, specifically."

"Yes well that's not important right now. What _is_ important is that those bottles should help you survive during your heat."

"Huh, well…that's good to know." She mumbled and studied the labels once more. "Do you have any plans for tonight?"

"What's that matter?"

"Well if you have plans for tonight, I'm going with you, which means that I should probably take the day time stuff. If you don't have plans then I'll just go back to bed."

"I have something I wouldn't mind doing." Peter answered vaguely and she nodded her understanding. "But you should probably stay here."

"Thank you for your opinion but you have to understand that it's a lot worse when you're not here. At least if I'm with you then I know I'm not alone."

Peter dropped his gaze to the floor and let out a sigh. He knew that arguing with her wasn't necessarily going to get him any further ahead and she'd probably wind up tagging along anyways. There was no point in trying to convince her to stay in.

"Then you should probably put some clothes on, we're going to the sewers." Peter announced.

"Oh. Right, uh, okay." She nodded and made her way to her feet. Peter followed her actions and took the lead, glancing back to make sure she was right behind him.

He entered the bedroom and dropped down to sit on the edge of it. She carefully handed him the bottles of drugs and stripped off her t-shirt, tossing it to the floor before opening the top drawer, _her_ drawer, and pulling out the t-shirt that Derek had clawed while they had met with Braeden in the loft. She slipped it on over her head and ran her fingers over the puncture holes on her shoulder before reaching in and grabbing a pair of old, nearly worn out jeans and slipping them on.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Peter questioned and finagled the top off the bottle containing the pills. He dropped two pills into his hand and popped the lid back on, leaving the bottles on the bed. Sydney grabbed a pair of socks and dropped down next to him with a huff.

"I go where you go." She stated firmly and slipped her feet into the socks. Once she was done getting dressed, she looked down at his hand and took the two pills in her own palm. "Heat would totally be more fun if you were neutered."

Peter rolled his eyes at her remark and watched as she tipped her head back, popped the pills into her mouth and forced them down her throat with a hearty swallow. She shook her head at the action and clambered to her feet, heading out into the apartment so that she could put her boots on. Hesitating inside the bedroom for a few more seconds, Peter contemplated the best case scenario.

No matter how he played it out in his head, his little adventure didn't look like it'd end very well at all, not if Sydney was going to have to come face to face with Kate Argent.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_As per the usual, I love hearing from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

**_What did you guys think about Peter and his concern for Sydney? Do you guys think that Sydney's question about Malia being Peter's proudest accomplishment was warranted or do you think it was a low blow on her part?_**

**_I'd love to hear what you all thought about this chapter! _**

**_Maybe now is as good a time as any to ask what you guys think of the potential for Sydney winding up pregnant...is that something you guys want, don't want? Any ideas/opinions regarding this issue are welcome._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_WickedlyMinx: Thank you so much for the review :P_**

**_cecld16: Sydney is definitely not a true alpha, I'm sorry if I misled you, but she does have a few things lingering around from her past that you'll see soon enough that might help show why she is as strong/powerful as she is. So, to reiterate, not a true alpha, she got her powers just like Derek did, by taking the life of another alpha. Thank you for the review, I hope this helps_**

**_SAGEDD96: Sydney's not used to having to share people with other people. She's jealous that there's someone she'd potentially have to share Peter's attention with. Also she's not a huge fan of Malia at all, neither girl trusts the other and Sydney's very protective over those she cares about (Peter and Stiles in this specific instance). I hope that cleared some things up, thank you for the review._**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW: Constant panic attacks are totally something Peter could cause his females to have lol! Thank you for the review! _**

**_LirealAion: Sydney knows what a good cartoon is, Batman, Looney Toons, she's no lame brain when it comes to her TV. Smart and sneaky for sure. Thank you for the review!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	18. Chapter 18

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 18****:**

She was surprisingly more compliant than Peter had anticipated but with her compliance he also noticed that she was a lot more, what was the best way to put it, loopy. Yes Sydney was completely loopy and if he hadn't known any better, he would have assumed that maybe she was drunk. But he knew exactly what was wrong with her, she was in heat, she was desperate for relief and the best way for Peter to get her that without actually getting into bed with the alpha were the pills that Deaton had given him.

The vet _had_ warned him that the pills would make her a little drowsy and that's what Peter had been expecting, not this, this drugged out of her mind version of his mate. She had been humming and singing that incessant song the entire walk to the sewer entrance. When he told her to keep her voice down, she had apologized, stayed quiet for a second and then jumped right back into singing, as though he hadn't even spoken to her at all.

There was an upside to Sydney going through heat, she definitely didn't stray from his side, in fact, she was never more than an arm's length away from him at all times. For the most part, she had been holding his hand but there had been a few times when he had to let go in order to stabilize his own body in the narrowing, confining halls of the sewer.

"Peter I'm tired." She whined and he tightened his grip on her hand. Yes, here was drowsy Sydney after all.

"We'll be home soon enough." He promised her and she stepped up beside him, her hip against his as they walked together in the sewers. Her hand pulled away from his and she slipped it around him, her palm residing on his hip, the one opposite to her.

"When we get home, will you come to bed with me?" She asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. This was good, if he could just keep her in this same mood for the entirety of the trip then all would end well.

"I'll lay with you." Peter replied, his voice just as low as hers.

"Naked?" She whisper-hissed.

"Unfortunately no, that's not something that I can do, not tonight anyways."

"How about tomorrow?" She pressed and Peter rested his arm around her shoulders, reaching his hand up to tangle in her hair. She let out a low moan at his motions and dropped her head against his shoulder. "Please, tomorrow?"

"Maybe next week."

"But that's so far away." She whined once more and nuzzled her nose against his shirt. "How about the day after tomorrow?"

Peter let out a hum and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. She tilted her head back and met his gaze. When she looked up at him, he made a mental note that her alpha eyes were out and on display for anyone in the vicinity to see. Well maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that Kate knew she was an alpha, maybe the Argent woman would feel slightly more intimidated when he made his offer to her.

"Next week." Peter stood firm and they approached a break in the hallway. Sydney was too busy looking at him to even notice but he could hear noises now, splashing sounds, as though someone were playing in the sewer water.

Sydney clung to him as he turned the corner slowly and stared at the former hunter, who was crouched down, her hands in the water, her hair matted and damp. When the female alpha at his side let out a low, feral snarl, Kate looked up at them but she wasn't afraid, not in the slightest, instead she simply smirked at Sydney and slowly rose up to her full height.

"Did you bring her down here for me to _play_ with?" Kate drawled and slowly pulled her eyes off of Sydney before looking at Peter and cooing, "Sweet little Sydney."

The female alpha tensed at her name and Peter didn't need to look at Sydney to know that she had forced her canines to come out. Kate purred at the woman's presence but remained where she was standing, the two berserkers taking up stances further down the sewer hallway behind Kate, ready for her command.

"She doesn't really play well with others." Peter countered and tightened his grip on Sydney's hair, making sure his mate didn't try to take off after Kate.

"That's too bad; I was really looking forward to-"

"I will gut you." Sydney snarled, cutting Kate's words right off. She didn't care what Kate was 'looking forward to', all she knew was that Kate Argent needed to pay for what she did. If Peter hadn't been holding her hair, Sydney wouldn't have thought twice about going after the woman muddling in the sewer water.

Peter pushed Sydney backwards and let go of her hair. Sydney stumbled but didn't lose her footing; instead, she took up a stance behind him and just glared at her enemy. Kate continued to smirk at the pair looking back at her from down the sewer. She clearly wasn't alarmed, she had two giant berserkers to back her up and if Peter hadn't let the four of them go after the _one_ berserker at the school, then it didn't take a genius to realize he wasn't going to put himself in a position where he'd have to fight the two berserkers in the sewer with Sydney as his only back-up.

"I suppose you're hiding down here because it'll cover your scent but I can smell a rat, even in a sewer." Peter broke in, trying to keep the peace between the two females as best as he could considering Sydney was in heat and they were clearly infringing on Kate's home turf. "It's getting worse, isn't it? The surges of anger, the loss of control, you know, _I_ used to get angry."

"Used to?" Sydney muttered from behind him. Peter threw his hand back at her, motioning for her to keep quiet. She let out a huff but kept her red eyes trained on Kate.

"As a kid, I would even break my own toys in little fits of rage and then I asked myself, 'why break your own toys when you can break someone else's'."

"Stop pitching and just tell me what you want."

"We don't want anything." Sydney shot out from behind him and took a step to the side, peeking out at Kate.

"That's cute Vance but you're smarter than that. If _he_ didn't want something, he wouldn't have come down here looking for _me_." Kate pointed out and Sydney furrowed her brows together. Okay so maybe Kate had a point but Peter had to know that Sydney wouldn't put up with that, she didn't want to work with Kate Argent, she didn't even want to associate herself with Kate but she did, however, want to rip her face off her body, as well as the rest of her limbs.

"Obviously, we're in a position of mutually assured destruction."

"Oh, I'm not so sure the scales are that balanced." Kate laughed sarcastically and Sydney squeezed her eyes shut, trying to figure out what exactly Peter's plan was, why did they need Kate's help and why was he stopping her from ripping the former hunter apart piece by piece.

"Probably true, but I know you want to get the family back together again, the return of the Argents to their glorious power." Peter took a few steps closer but Sydney remained still, not moving a muscle. She tore her eyes off of Kate and brought them up to land on the berserkers who still stood poised and ready behind her. "Am I right? But you know you can't go back unless you can exhibit absolute and total control. I can offer control, I can teach you."

"Just like you've taught her control?" Kate countered and she waved her hand in Sydney's direction. Sydney hadn't even realized what was going on really; she just knew that she was willing to follow Peter anywhere at that point, that she'd go where he went.

"Shut your bitch ass whore mouth!" Sydney barked and took one step forward, leveling her glare on Kate. "I will end you!"

"Big words from a little girl."

"I'll rip your heart out of your chest-"

"Enough!" Peter's voice boomed and echoed off the walls. Sydney bit back her words and stared at the back of his head.

"So, you're willing to teach me in order to get what you want. Which is what?" Kate shot back. Sydney could tell by the tone of her voice that she was extremely skeptical and she didn't blame the former hunter. She barely trusted Peter and she was mated to him.

"Obviously, I want my money back." Peter stated.

"Mmm-hmm. That's not it. Maybe part of it but that's not _all_ you want."

"I need the money, yes but I'll admit money only gets you so far." Peter leaned in towards Kate and Sydney cocked her head to the side. What did Kate have that she didn't? Why did Peter need Kate on his team? Wasn't she enough? She was an alpha, she had money, she would stand by his side through anything, yet here he was, closing in on Kate, getting close to the dirty rotten whore.

"Don't." Sydney snarled and rolled her shoulders back. She felt the tightness in her skin, the heat seeping out of her pores. Was she jealous? Of Kate? Of a total psychopath?

Dropping to a crouch, Sydney dug her claws into her sides and drew blood. She didn't care; nothing mattered at that point except for the sweet, desperate relief from the itch that had taken over her body. Her eyes remained trained on the two in front of her and she was reduced to watching and waiting.

"What I want is what I've always wanted." Peter closed the distance between him and Kate and leaned down so that his mouth was right by her ear. Sydney let out a low growl but remained behind Peter, waiting for her opportunity. "Power."

With his final word, Peter pulled away from Kate and turned his back to her. Sydney's jaw clenched at his smirk and it took every fibre of her being not to push him out of the way to get to Kate. Once his eyes caught her gaze though, she knew she was done. The pills, whatever they had been, were clearly wearing off and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to make it back to the apartment before her arousal took over.

She dropped her legs down into the water and slowly backed away from Kate, the cool liquid now lapping at the wounds in her sides as it splashed up, providing a sweet sense of relief. Peter closed in on her and moved his hand out towards her. She took hold of it, ducked under it to turn around and followed his lead, the water sploshing up around her legs.

When they had rounded the corner, disappearing from Kate's line of sight, Peter hauled her up, out of the water and she fell against him, his back pressing against the wall of the sewer. Her chest collided with his and her lips were mere inches from Peter's.

"Kate needs to die." Sydney growled and leaned forward, nipping at his jaw, her razor sharp canines just breaking his skin.

"You should really learn to trust me." Peter countered and dropped his head down, forcing her teeth away from him. He slipped his hands up under her shirt and rested them against her injured sides, blood running over his knuckles as he did so.

"I don't have to trust you to fuck you." She murmured and pressed her lips against his.

Peter kissed her back for a few seconds before reluctantly pulling away and looking down into her eyes, which were still glowing red.

"Let's get you home and sedated." He said softly.

"Just what every girl wants to hear." She scoffed and backed away from him. She waved him forward but he paused in front of her before taking hold of her hand.

Peter gently tugged her towards him and started to lead her back out the way they had just come in. Sydney glanced backwards and let a growl rumble through her chest, hoping that Kate heard her. Peter gave her arm a quick jerk and Sydney fell in step next to him. Whatever he was planning, he better make it worth her while or Kate Argent wouldn't be the only one who would need to be punished.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

The idea of keeping Sydney sedated for the week of her heat probably should have bothered Peter more than it did. She was constantly sleeping, which meant that she wasn't really eating, and when she was awake, her only focus was to get as close to him as she possibly could. The pills that Deaton had given to her were helping in the regard that she wasn't trying to get him naked anymore; no she really just wanted him next to her, to feel his touch, to hold his hand or to curl up against him.

Her skin always felt hot and anytime she woke up to head into the bathroom, he took note that her t-shirt was tied up under her breasts and she had abandoned her shorts altogether, which left her in nothing more than a pair of underwear. As she moved from the bathroom back to the bedroom, she'd glance in Peter's direction, flash her alpha reds at him and saunter the rest of the way back to bed.

He wasn't going to lie; her heat was hard on him too. He hated having to control his own animalistic desires but he wasn't going to give in, not when there was so much resting on his ability to remain calm and not dive into bed with her. She was basically out of her right mind; the only thing that was stopping her from jumping him at every opportunity was a drug induced coma, which could not have been healthy for her. But really, what other choice did he have?

She wasn't about to leave for Colorado, not with the way things were going in Beacon Hills. If Peter was honest with himself, it probably wouldn't matter if she left now anyways. Leaving while she was already a few days into heat would only warrant more trouble, more than likely from other packs. She'd draw attention to herself and they'd know that she was alone. Plus Peter was fairly certain the twins had taken up residence in her house in Colorado, or at least that was the rumour, and the idea of Sydney being anywhere near Aiden was enough to drive him mad, especially if she was in heat.

That boy wouldn't have any qualms about getting her into bed and doing what Peter refused to do, giving in to the primal desire to give her everything. It wouldn't matter to Aiden if she was mated, a female werewolf in heat would entice anyone, even rival wolf packs.

Going to Colorado was out of the question for Sydney anyways. There was no way Peter was going to put her into danger and then hand her over to Aiden, the twin who had already kissed her, had already expressed that he was interested in more than just friendship, no, that wasn't going to happen. Sydney was his and Peter was going to keep it that way.

With a low growl, Peter rose up from the stool on the island and debated his next move. All he _really_ wanted to do was strip down to nothing and climb into bed with her, to give in to her constant request for sex. That's not something he wanted to face the consequences of though, not at all. Instead, he brought his claws out, rested his palm against his forearm and forced the sharp talons into his skin, bringing him back from the clutches of his wolf.

He marched across the apartment and quietly stepped into the bedroom, letting the light in from the living room. He could just barely make out her form; she was lying on her back, her one leg bent out to the side while her other one was straight out. She had both of her arms up over her head, one hand tangled in her hair, the other resting on the pillow that her head was on. He could feel how hot she was just from the doorway and he couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going through.

Peter pressed his palm against the doorframe and just watched her, studying her body for a few seconds. He watched her chest rise and fall rhythmically, his muscles relaxing slightly at the confirmation that she was, in fact, still breathing. It had crossed his mind a time or two that she'd maybe go overboard on the sedative but watching her, listening to her even heart beat provided enough comfort to him to know that she was okay, she'd _be _okay. All they had to do was make it through just a few more days.

His gaze fell on her face and he couldn't help but smile at her peaceful expression. She looked almost happy, her eyes shut tight, a lazy smile on her face, no doubt a result of being able to sleep peacefully, to feel relieved of the pull on her body, if only temporarily.

When her heart picked up in pace, he furrowed his brow, the smile on his face faltering at the sound. His stare remained locked on her face and before he could figure out what was going on, her eyes popped open, irises glowing red in the darkened bedroom. Peter froze in the doorway and simply watched as she turned her head and lifted it up a little bit, her fiery red eyes locking onto his position.

"What are you doing?" Sydney asked, letting out a loud yawn after she got the words out.

"The proper term would be 'checking up on you'." Peter countered and smiled, watching as she shifted on the bed, moving into a sitting position. Sydney ran her hands over her legs, digging her fingernails into her skin the slightest bit, and stretched her arms into the air.

"Perv." She giggled. "You were totally watching me sleep."

"I was making sure you were still breathing." Peter stated firmly. Sydney swung her legs over to the side of the bed and slowly made her way to her feet. She paused in her movements and raked her fingernails across her bare stomach before turning her attention to Peter and moving towards him.

"I call bullshit; you could easily have heard my heart from the kitchen." She murmured and closed the distance between them, pressing her chest against his now and dropping her voice down. "Come to bed with me Peter, please?"

"Do you want children?" He asked and kept his hands off her, even as she ran her palms up over his chest.

"Uh, no." She shook her head and leaned in, her lips pressing against the side of his neck. "Not really but if I'm totally honest with you, that's a price that I'm willing to pay at this point in time."

"I'm not-"

"It's so hot in here; don't you think it's hot?" She whispered and tensed as his hands came to rest against her hips. "I don't want to sleep anymore. Please Peter?"

He let out a low growl and wretched his head away from her, her lips moving away from his skin. So maybe he wasn't entirely committed to staying away from her. She was getting to him; his own body was betraying him. All he _really_ wanted was her, but at what cost?

"Sydney stop." He grumbled but she knew that he was breaking.

"Just one time, please?" She pleaded.

"No, no we can't."

"But Peter I need you." She moaned. "You can make this go away, you can make it stop."

His hands moved away from her hips and he stumbled backwards, desperate to get away. She looked at him, big, wide, sad eyes locked on his and he knew that there was no way he was going to be sleeping in the bed with her anymore, not until her heat was over. Hell if he could survive sleeping in the apartment with her so close he'd consider himself lucky. It was a good thing he had a back-up plan, yes; Derek's loft would do just fine for a few nights.

"I can't do that and you know it." He said confidently.

"But it hurts!" She whined.

"That's too bad."

"Make it stop!"

"I told you before I bit you that this would happen and you neglected to consider the consequences."

"Well I also said I'd go to Colorado but you and I both know that I'm not leaving here now, not with all the shit going on." She countered. "You aren't really going to just let me suffer are you? Not when you can help me?"

"I'm going to get you more sedatives." Peter brushed off her words and spun around on his heels, quickly making his way towards the bathroom. Sydney let out a huff of frustration and followed him, striding into the small room just as he opened the medicine cabinet.

She dropped her bum down onto the edge of the tub and sighed. The tub felt cool beneath her burning hot skin and her eyes lit up at the idea that was now forming in her head. She leaned towards the faucet and turned the water on as cold as it would go before glancing back at Peter, who was now watching her curiously.

"What are you doing?" He questioned and clutched one of the bottles containing the liquid sedative.

"I told you before, I'm really hot."

"So a cold bath-"

"I don't see you offering up any other suggestions." She cut him off, dropped the plug into the drain and rose up to her full height. She cocked her head at him and broke out into a grin before turning towards the door and taking off.

Peter let out a groan but set the bottle on the edge of the sink before stepping across the bathroom and turning the water off. Sydney's form reappeared in the doorway with a part of a bag of ice clutched against her chest and she scowled at him before gently squeezing herself in between him and the edge of the tub. She tipped the bag of ice into the tub and let out a squeal of excitement at the loud thumping noises from the impact.

Before Peter could stop her, she handed him the now empty plastic bag and stepped into the tub, the ice water only up to her ankles. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, desperately trying to prevent her from dropping down into the freezing cold liquid.

"You can't do this." He scolded her.

"Watch me." She grinned and pulled her arm out of his grasp. She quickly dropped her body into the tub and made her way into a laying down position, the ice cold water enveloping her back and legs. Peter gently kneeled down next to the tub and rested his arms on the edge.

"Are you happy now?"

"Feels like heaven." She murmured and shut her eyes, blocking everything out for the time being.

Peter shook his head at her and stood up, wrapping his fingers around the bottle of sedative. In all fairness, he probably would have felt vaguely similar if he was in her position. Sleeping all day and only getting up to go to the bathroom would take its toll on anyone, even without the added sexual urges and the heat radiating through her body. Maybe it was time that he gave her more credit, so what if she tried to entice him, it was what heat was for, but they hadn't given in yet.

"Did you want me to make you something to eat?" Peter asked softly.

"No that's okay, I'm really only hungry for one thing." She chuckled and wiggled her toes in the ice water.

"Oh?"

"You dummy." She snorted and opened her eyes, looking up at him. She lifted her arms up and set them on her sides, gently rubbing her reddening skin. His eyes studied her lithe little body but he let out a growl at the appearance of her claws. Before he had a chance to stop her, she sliced into her skin, turning the ice water a murky brown colour.

"You're…I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with you right now."

"I thought I made that clear." She sighed and pulled her claws out of her body.

"Yes well I'm not going to have sex with you."

"Fair enough."

Peter rolled his eyes at her but watched as she dug her claws back into her skin, this time just under her breasts. Blood oozed out of her wounds and into the water and Peter knew that there was nothing he could do for her now. She was clearly perfectly content taking care of herself.

"Do you mind?" Sydney purred and motioned towards the door. "The sight of you just makes it worse."

Peter nodded his understanding at her and cautiously made his way out of the bathroom. He grabbed hold of the door behind him and shut it, cutting her off from the rest of the apartment. Leaning his back against the door, he let his mind wander. He wasn't sure how long she was going to be in there, or how many more wounds she'd inflict on herself, all he did know was that he'd be glad when her heat was all over.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_It would seem that you guys are pretty much into the idea of Sydney and Peter becoming parents...well then :P_**

**_What did you guys think about Sydney and Kate finally laying eyes on each other? Do you guys think that Sydney would win in a fight between the two or would Kate ultimately come out on top?_**

**__****_As per the usual, I love hearing from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

**_I'd love to hear what you all thought about this chapter! _**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Sydney is definitely not a true alpha :) Peter's had his claws in her since she showed up at his apartment lol_**

**__****_WickedlyMinx: Babies! I guess you'll just have to stick around_**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW: Peter needs to be stable first! Crazy old Peter haha_**

**_Xhex1: Ah yes, it would add another level of drama to the story. What kind of dad do you think he would make?_**

**_Guest: Sydney and Kate fighting is basically the one thing that I want!_**

**_LirealAion: Flaws make the character. If he could just get his head out of his butt, he could easily have his little family, alas, that would be too easy._**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	19. Chapter 19

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 19****:**

"_Sydney, Syd! Stay away from there!" Her mother's voice was much harsher than she had anticipated and it had caught her slightly off guard. It wasn't like she was doing anything out of the ordinary; in fact, she was heading over to the Hale house, that was her intention, that was her plan so when her mother had called out to her, to little child sized Sydney, she felt her heart pound the slightest bit faster from fright. She had been on her way to the edge of the forest, the heavily wooded area that hugged the boundary of their backyard, she was on her way to visit Derek, she was on her way to talk to him._

_Sydney glanced back at her mother, who was standing in the doorframe of the back kitchen door and tossed her a lame little wave. She wasn't about to turn back now, even if her mother wanted her too because all she really wanted to do was get to Derek, to see him, to play with him. She was excited and there wasn't anything that was going to stop her now, not her mother, not her father, not a soul. _

_Her mother planted her hands on her hips and glared at Sydney, trying to draw her daughter back to the house, away from the dark, eerie forest that rested between the Vance household and the Hale estate. Sydney dropped her gaze to the ground and watched as the vibrant green grass turned dark and deadened right before her eyes. When she looked back up at her mother, the familiar woman had disappeared and Sydney could only guess that she had stepped back inside the house, possibly to get her father. She'd have a much harder time brushing off her father's requests, that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to; it just meant that she'd feel slightly worse about disobeying if the order had come directly from her father._

_She hesitated at the edge of the forest and stared at her house, debating her next move. She was going to go see Derek, that was a given, but was she going to go without checking in with her parents, especially after the sudden disappearance of her mother._

_It wasn't a hard decision to make, especially when the screams came: blood curdling, gut wrenching, ear piercing screams and Sydney knew that something had gone terribly wrong. She lurched to the side and veered towards the house, running as fast as she possibly could across the lawn. Her little legs pumped quicker than they had ever moved and Sydney closed the distance between her and the house in record time. She craned her neck around and took in the sight of the eerie, darkening woods before surging forward. _

_She exploded through the doorway and froze just inside the kitchen. Her stare was glued to the scene in front of her and she could do nothing more than watch as her parents' blood ran down the wall, staining the paint in the process. Her eyes widened at the sight and she brought her hand up to cover the putrid stench from entering her nose, the stench of their blood. Something was wrong, so very, very wrong._

"_Mommy?" She called out softly, her eyes scanning the dimly lit kitchen in search of her mother, who had been calling to her not more than a few minutes before. "Mom?"_

_She stepped into the room further, her footsteps barely making a noise as she moved. She pushed her shoulders back and forced her claws out, preparing herself to attack if the need arose but she prayed that it wouldn't come to that, she wasn't ready for a fight, she didn't **want** to fight. She clenched her jaw and let out a whimper as the razor sharp canine teeth in her mouth pierced the inside of her lips and grazed her tongue, drawing blood out. _

"_Mommy? Daddy?"_

_Sydney slunk deeper into the kitchen, anticipating the worst. She could already picture the mangled corpses of her parents, something she had seen once before, but she didn't want to believe they were gone yet again. No, she had just seen her mother, calling out to her, she couldn't be gone, there wasn't enough time for someone to kill her parents, was there?_

_Her ears perked up at the sound of a heartbeat and she took off in a run, heading for the front door. She found herself stepping out onto the front porch where the sound had been coming from and before she could take it all in, she tuned in to the heartbeat, quickly realizing that it didn't belong to either of her parents._

"_Sydney Vance?"_

_Sydney looked at the man, older than her, definitely, maybe around the same age as her parents, and scrunched her face up in confusion. She pressed her back against the outside wall of the house and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that everything would disappear, that the deputy outside would go away and everything would go back to normal, back to a time when her parents were alive and very much present in her life. _

_She didn't want to talk to this deputy, she knew that just by him being on her front lawn meant that something was wrong, so very, very wrong, as if she hadn't figured that out without his presence._

_When she opened her eyes, he was still standing on the lawn of her front yard, staring at her. He forced a smile in her direction and she stepped forward, pushing herself away from the house. Sydney crept across the wooden floor of the front deck and paused at the top of the stairs._

"_Who are you?" Her voice was much more confident than she figured it would be and the deputy moved towards her cautiously, so as not to scare her. "Why are you here?"_

"_I'm Sheriff Stilinski; I'm here to talk to you about the fire?"_

"_The fire?" Her little voice sounded lost and confused. Sydney dropped down onto the first step and clung to the hope that the deputy was here because of something good, even though she had already figured whatever he was here for was the complete opposite. She stepped down onto the second step and tilted her head to the side. "What fire?"_

"_That fire, see." The sheriff pointed behind her at the house and Sydney slowly turned around. When her eyes landed on the flames erupting from the doorway she let out an ear-piercing scream and stumbled on the steps. She managed to keep her footing as she pushed herself away from the deck before breaking into a run, hearing directly for the sheriff. He'd protect her, right? It was his job, he **had** to protect her._

"_Make it stop!" She screeched and ran right for him, colliding with his legs and hugging his knees while she buried her face into his thighs. She felt his hands gently come to rest on her shoulders in a lame attempt to calm her but that didn't relax her at all, not in the slightest. Instead, she started trembling and with every last ounce of strength, she turned her head back around and dared to look at her house._

_The fire continued to rise up, smoke billowing out of the crevices while flames were still licking at the siding, melting anything that the fire could while it burned even hotter inside. She pushed herself away from the Sheriff and took one step towards her house, holding her hands out in front of her and feeling the heat against her palms._

"_Where are your parents?" He asked gently, bringing her attention back to him. She shook her head furiously at him as she accepted the awful truth in front of her. Her parents were gone, they had been in the house pervious to the fire starting and if they weren't dead before, well they certainly were now. "Do you have anyone you can stay with?"_

"_Talia." Sydney's voice was barely louder than a whisper and the sheriff leaned forward, ready to take a step in her direction. Before the sheriff could get to her though, she took off, running for the woods, heading for Derek, for Talia, for safety. All she had to do was make it to the Hale house, to security, to the familiarity of her childhood best friend and his mother, to the all-powerful alpha, who would make sure everything would be okay._

_She disappeared from the sheriff's sight and dove into the darkened woods where she ran harder, faster than she had ever run in her life. Her legs were moving in overdrive, her feet stomped against the dead leaves which covered the cold, hard ground below her. She looked straight ahead and held her arms out in front of her for protection, keeping the branches from biting at her skin ad hurting her. She kept running, dropping her head down to duck under a large, low branch and before she could comprehend what was going on around her, the sky turned darker and she let out a loud, high pitched scream of terror._

"_Sydney?"_

_She knew that voice, she knew it all too well. It wasn't Derek, it wasn't Talia, no, it was someone else, someone different, someone she could trust to keep her alive. She stopped running and immediately regretted it because now that she wasn't moving, she could feel her lungs burning, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath and her heart pounding against her ribcage. She looked down at her hands, studying the digits there and took note that her fingers were no longer childlike, no, they were longer, more defined, she now had the hands of a woman. She glanced down her body further at her legs and spotted jeans, but that wasn't right. No, she hadn't been wearing jeans when she had been in her yard, at her house even. She felt taller too, older, her hair was longer and her eyes, her eyes **felt** different._

"_Who's there?" She called out and spun around; trying to get a grasp on whomever it was that had called her name, although deep down she knew who the voice belonged to. She just needed to find him, she needed to get to Peter, he would save her, he could help her._

"_Sydney where are you?"_

_She moved forward and took a whiff of the air, shaking her head at the unexpected smell of murky, dirty water? Was that really what she could smell, in the middle of the forest no less? Could she really smell water? _

_Her feet carried her towards the fresh scent, fresh in comparison to the overwhelming smell of smoke and fire that she had narrowly escaped from. She kept her eyes trained on the light that seeped through the dark, eerie trees and as she got closer and closer, the watery odour became stronger and stronger. When she stepped out of the forest, she took a few more steps forward and found herself cautiously approaching the edge of a small pond._

"_Hello?" She called out softly and crouched down next to the body of water. She gingerly moved her hand towards the surface and broke through, letting the liquid surround her fingers. It was cold, so very cold, and it enveloped her entire hand, almost daring her to dive right in, to feel the crisp freshness on her entire body. She rolled her shoulders back and focused her attention on the surface of the pond, staring at her blurry reflection. Two eyes stared back at her and even if her reflection wasn't clear, she could easily make out that the irises of her eyes were red, the very eye colour of alpha werewolves._

_She twisted her head around to make sure that there wasn't someone else behind her, someone else who would have alpha eyes, but they were hers, there was no one behind her, no one even near her. She looked back at the water and leaned forward the slightest little bit, getting closer, her reflection becoming clearer. Was that really her? Were those really **her** alpha eyes?_

"_Sydney!" The voice was becoming louder, more frantic now and she made a move to stand up, to pull her hand free from the water but something within the depths grabbed her hand and latched on with such ferocity that she didn't know whether or not she was going to be able to win this particular battle. _

_It continued pulling her forward and she struggled against the fierce grasp on her wrist, tugging her arm back, forcing whatever, or whoever, was in the water to move closer to the surface, to come towards her. _

_She gasped at the unexpected sight, watching in terror as the bright blue irises belonging to none other than Derek Hale stared back at her from under the surface of the water. His skin was pale and his hair looked soft to the touch as it floated effortlessly in the liquid. _

"_Derek?" She questioned and gave one more giant tug on her arm, drawing him upwards, breaking the film of the water. _

_He gasped and wheezed as he tried to catch his breath, clinging to the ground nearby. He crawled forward and continued heaving, hacking, and coughing up water that had managed to settle in his lungs. She rolled him onto his back and looked down at him, watching as his bright blue eyes faded and turned yellow. She swung a leg over him and dropped down, straddling him as his hand reached out for her. She took it in between her own hands and pressed it against her chest, right over her heart so that he could feel the steady beat. Sydney tried to draw out his pain but the more she clung to him, the more his veins refused to turn black. That's when it hit her: she couldn't help him, she couldn't take his pain away._

_His eyes fluttered shut and she let out a gut wrenching sob, watching as his breathing slowed down. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead but let out a shriek as his claws burst out of his nail beds and pierced through the skin on her chest. She could feel the warm, sticky blood oozing out of her body and she tried to pull away but Derek's claws sunk in deeper and she tried to fight him, she tried desperately to get him to let go but it was no use. She felt his fingers wrap around her heart, squeezing the organ tight in his grasp._

_She gasped for breath and tried to will the pain away as his eyes popped open. Sydney dropped her head down the slightest bit and she growled at him. His eyes caught her attention because no longer were they blue or even a vibrant gold, no, now they were a faded yellow, dulled by the end of his life. _

"_Sydney!"_

_The voice broke into her thoughts and pulled her attention away from Derek. The voice! Of course, yes, all she had to do was call out to the voice, to make her presence known so that they could get to her, to reach her and save her from Derek's grasp on her still beating heart._

"_Hel-"_

_Derek's fingers tightened on her heart and she was rendered speechless instantly. She felt the air rushing out of her lungs, watched the blood pouring out of her chest, felt her heart pounding against his clenched fingers while he refused to let go_

"_You're weak." Derek growled and his body straightened underneath her._

_Sydney sucked in a breath and, with all she had left, she wrapped her hands around his wrist, desperately trying to get him to let go of her heart, to let her keep her life. _

"_No." She spat back at him, continuing her struggle against him, her struggle to get him away from her._

"_You're weak. You're a pathetic excuse for an alpha. I'm the alpha; I've always been the alpha."_

_Sydney sucked in another painful breath and shut her eyes, focusing all of her energy on one more attempt to break free._

"_Not," wheeze, "**my**," wheeze, "alpha."_

_With her last ounce of strength, she opened her mouth and let out the loudest roar she could muster. Her entire body shook with the force, her organs vibrated along with the sound and Derek's face froze at the animalistic noise. Sydney pried his hand away from her chest and snapped his wrist backwards, feeling the bones breaking and grinding against each other in her grip._

"_Sydney!?" The voice called out to her once more but this time, this time she knew she could call back._

"_Here! I'm here!"_

_She reached her hands down and pushed herself off of Derek before clambering to her feet. She stepped away from his broken, bloated body and took off in a run, heading in the direction from where the voice had come from. Sydney twisted her head back and took one last glance at the pond, watching as Derek's body slowly erupted into flames._

_She let out a cry, turned her head around to face in front of her and surged forward, trying to get as far away from the horrific scene as she possibly could. Her legs moved faster than she ever could have imagined and she just ran, away from Derek, away from the fire that would finish him off, away from her house, which would be nothing more than a pile of ashes once the flames died off._

_She pushed her body to the limits and continued to run. It was only when her legs were seconds away from giving out that she stopped and spun around, trying to figure out where she was going, or even where she had come from._

"_Hello?" She called out and turned around again, only this time the Hale house stood tall and unharmed in front of her where there had been nothing more than trees just seconds before. She cocked her head to the side and watched as Malia sauntered out of the front door, a threatening look etched on her face. There was something off about the young girl but Sydney couldn't put her finger on it. _

"_He's mine now." Malia growled, breaking the silence that had fallen over them and Sydney was reduced to watching as none other than Peter appeared in the doorway. She stared at the two of them, waiting for her opportunity to make her next move._

"_You shouldn't have trusted me." Peter smirked and moved to stand next to Malia, both Hales standing tall and rigid on the front porch._

"_But I love you!" She shouted back at him and tried to move forward, to get to him, to make him see that she was his, she'd always be his._

_Her feet wouldn't move, her legs felt as heavy as lead and her eyes widened as the Hale house erupted into flames, just like hers had, behind the father and daughter duo. She made a move to scream but found that she didn't have anything left, no sound came out and she was rendered speechless **and** helpless._

"_Sydney, your parents raised you to be smarter than this." Peter drawled and she bared her teeth, feeling very much like she was slowly being forced away, her back against the wall. He was forcing her into a corner and she wasn't going to go down without a fight. Just because she couldn't talk didn't mean she couldn't growl or snarl at them._

"_Now, now, what a petty little alpha." _

_She watched with pure hatred as Kate Argent made her way out of the front door now, the former hunter glaring at Sydney, her words cutting into the alpha's ears like a knife. Kate's voice hurt, the sound of her words was like poison, slowly filling her body. She wanted them all to stop talking, to stop taunting her._

"_Seems you've found yourself on the wrong side." Peter tisked. Sydney opened her mouth to try to speak again but, much to her dismay, nothing came out._

_Kate slowly pulled a matchbook out of her pocket and held it in front of her, waiting for Sydney to realize what was about to happen. It didn't take much to figure it out and as soon as she did, Sydney's eyes widened at the prospect, Kate lighting one of the matches before quickly setting the rest of the book on fire. Kate turned her body towards Peter and Malia, both of them nodding their approval at whatever it was that was about to happen, this was the part that Sydney hadn't figured out yet, she wasn't sure whether they were going to light the Hale house on fire or if they were going to light **her **on fire._

"_Let's watch the rest of her world go up in flames!" Kate screamed and threw the flaming matchbook in Sydney's direction. She tried to scream, she tried to fight against it but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move, she couldn't get away, she couldn't stop it._

_She felt the flames lapping at her ankles, her eyes dropping down to watch her skin melting, her bones becoming exposed. She looked back up at the three of them standing on the porch of the burning Hale house and forced her alpha reds to come to surface. _

_What had he done, what had Peter done?! He had made a deal with the devil, he had played with fire and now everything, everyone was going to burn._

"_You son of a bitch!" She opened her mouth and shrieked, surprised to find that she had regained the ability to speak. The euphoria at hearing her voice quickly diminished as she felt her legs collapse from underneath her, her body colliding with the ground hard._

The impact had been enough to jar the sleeping woman awake and Sydney's eyes burst open, taking in her surroundings. The bedroom in the apartment came into focus and she felt her heartbeat decreasing in speed.

"Holy fuck." Sydney darted upright in bed and clutched the stuffed wolf in her hands harder. She shut her eyes and shook her head, trying to figure out what the hell she had just witnessed and why she had dreamt about fire. The lingering confusion slowly disappeared and she blinked away the fuzziness of her mind.

Cautiously she tossed her stuffed wolf to the bed next to her, watching as it fell into the pillows. Her body still felt hot, there was sweat on her forehead and her hair felt greasy and gross. She looked to the side and noticed that she was in the bed alone, weird, why was she by herself? Where was Peter and was he okay?

Flinging her legs to the side, Sydney leapt to her feet and took off for the bedroom door. She exploded through it and looked around the darkened apartment, the only light coming in from the window, the moon bright and high in the dim sky. She immediately laid her eyes on Peter's sleeping form on the couch and felt her heart pounding against her chest in relief.

He was okay! He was alive! He hadn't been eaten up by the flames; he wasn't standing next to Malia, or Kate. He was hers still, he was all hers.

"Peter?" She hissed at him and pranced across the room, pressing her hand against the patch of couch next to him. She studied his face and couldn't help but smile at the peaceful expression there. Slowly bringing her hand up, she leaned towards him and gingerly ran her fingers through his hair. Peter stirred but didn't quite wake up from her actions. She ran her fingers through his hair one more time before stepping up onto the piece of furniture and moving one leg over his body before squatting down, a leg on either side of him.

She brought her hands out and gingerly pressed them against his chest, gently straddling him against the couch. Peter's eyes shot open, the bright blue irises staring back at her, and he jerked upright, into a sitting position beneath her. She stared at him, watching as his breathing slowed down and his eyes returned to normal, a sure sign of him relaxing.

"I told you I'm not going to have sex with you." He grumbled and moved his arms out towards her, carefully trying to shove her away from him.

"What?" She tilted her head to the side and let out a breath. Oh yeah, there it was. Her body was hot still, the itching feeling on her skin was slowly returning. Heat, how could she forget about her heat? "Oh wait, no, that's not-"

"How many times do we have to go over this? You don't want children and in order for you to not-"

"No, no I swear, I'm fine, I'm not here to fuck you, or try I guess, whatever, that's not it at all." She murmured and leaned forward, curling her body against his, waiting for his arms to come around her. "I just had a bad dream."

"A bad dream?"

"Well more like a nightmare but yeah, don't worry, it's fine, I'm good. Can you please just come lay with me though?"

"I don't know that that's a good idea." He countered hesitantly and set his palms on her shoulders.

"No please I won't try anything, I'll go take more of those sleeping pills or drugs, just please just come lay with me?" She was pleading now and when she brought her eyes up to meet his, he knew that she was being genuine.

"Okay but the second you try anything, I'm leaving the room." Peter pointed out and shifted on the couch, watching as she uncurled her body from his. Sydney climbed off of him and made her way to her feet, taking hold of his hand as he did the same, mirroring her motions.

"I know." She nodded. She snuggled up against his side and walked beside him, back into the bedroom.

Peter let go of her hand and watched as she climbed back into bed, leaving the covers off her burning hot skin. He climbed in with her, grabbing hold of the stuffed wolf, which was still on his pillow, and setting it on his nightstand before she dropped down to lay on her side. Peter lowered himself down next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders, letting out a small sigh as Sydney curled up in his hold.

"You sure you're okay?" He asked, his voice soft and soothing.

"Yeah." She paused and looked up at him. "I love you."

"I love you too."

With his reassuring words, Sydney let out a breath and relaxed in his hold. Minutes later she had drifted off to sleep, leaving Peter to wonder what the hell she had seen in her dream.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_What a horrific nightmare!? Sydney does have a few issues to sort out now doesn't she? Did you guys like it? Theories on what it meant maybe?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Ah yes, drugged up Sydney is pretty amusing for sure! Thanks so much for the review!_**

**__****_WickedlyMinx: Peter's got some wicked control and Sydney's got some pretty hard core drugs...who knows what will happen. Thanks for the review!_**

**__****_SarcasticEnigma: Kate's appearance at the end of 3B was one of the main reasons why I was so gung-ho about a sequel. Kate versus Sydney would be the ultimate showdown for sure! No matter who would win, it'd be an exciting match for sure! Thank you so much for leaving me a review!_**

**__****_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Personal problems for sure! They'll figure things out...hopefully haha. Thanks for the review!_**

**_LirealAion: Everyone but Sydney wants babies lol. She's maybe starting to realize that it wouldn't be AS bad as she first imagined. As for her restraint around Kate, well if Peter or the berserkers weren't there, nothing would have stopped Sydney from taking a shot at her! YES! Isaac I miss more but the twins, near the end, were growing on me. They all had so much potential! Thanks so much for leaving me a review!_**

**_PassionForWritingAlex: glad to see that you're back and that you're enjoying this story so much! Thanks for the kind words and for leaving all the reviews!_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	20. Chapter 20

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 20****:**

_If it weren't for those eyes, those familiar, piercing, vibrant blue eyes, Sydney wouldn't have recognized the girl and maybe the young woman would have been able to get away, or at the very least, she could have convinced Sydney that she wasn't a threat. It didn't matter now though, it was far too late and she didn't stand a chance against Sydney's alpha strength. _

_Poor Malia, the little werecoyote who she had once considered taking into her pack. If Stiles hadn't asked her, she could have gone on living in an ignorant bliss but that wasn't the case, she knew what Malia was, who she really belonged to and that was just too bad._

_The werecoyote had to die._

_Sydney had worked too hard at her relationship and, mated bond or not, Peter was hers. She wasn't going to share him, not with another wolf and certainly not with his own daughter. No she had fought for him enough and it was time to take matters into her own hands…literally._

_She could feel Malia's pulse under the pads of her fingers as she wrapped her hands tighter around her throat. Brutal? Maybe. Necessary? Absolutely. Peter was hers; no one was going to interfere, not even his own kin, not anymore._

_The young werecoyote let out a gasp under Sydney's grip but the alpha never faltered. She held on, Malia's back pressed against the damp ground, Sydney straddling her waist as she trapped her in position. It wasn't hard to catch her, not at all. Sydney was faster, and more experienced. It didn't matter if this girl had been stuck in animal form for eight years; she was no match for Sydney._

"_Who are you?" The little coyote struggled to breathe let alone get the words out but Sydney had heard them, loud and clear. In fact, she liked the choking and gasping noises that accompanied them, maybe even a little too much. _

"_I am the Reaper." Sydney ground the words out and tightened her grip on the girl's throat. _

_Malia's hands came up and attempted to grasp Sydney's arms but the girl was no match for the powerful alpha. Sydney let out a ferocious growl and Malia stilled beneath her, the fight slowly disappearing from the imprisoned girl._

"_Why are you doing this?" Malia choked the words out and Sydney paused for a split second, loosening her grip temporarily._

"_Why?" Sydney cocked her head at the girl's inability to give up. "There's things you don't understand, things you will __**never**__ understand. You're not going to destroy what I've worked so hard to build up."_

"_Like what?" Malia spat at her and Sydney leaned down closer to the girl, her nose just inches from the werecoyote's._

"_Like who you are, __**what**__ you are." Sydney snarled and dug her fingers into the soft, smooth skin on the girl's neck. She felt her fingernails breaking skin but fought off the wolf that was clawing, begging to come to surface. No, Sydney was going to end this without her alpha powers._

"_Who am I?" Malia made another lame attempt to grab at Sydney's arms and her fingers wrapped weakly around the alpha's wrist. Sydney put more of her weight into her position and Malia let out a spluttering sound as she struggled to get air into her lungs._

"_You're just a girl who's standing in my way." Sydney shot back. Yes, Malia was right in her line of fire and had been since she found out that her mate had some illegitimate child out there. It didn't take too much time before Sydney came to the conclusion that the easiest way to keep Peter to herself was to get rid of the competition. "Maybe if you were someone else, you could have avoided death tonight. Shame how things work out though, isn't it?"_

"_I don't- I don't know what you're talking about." Malia's voice was faltering and Sydney could tell that all it would take to end the poor girl was just a little bit more pressure. She could go one of two ways: one, choke her out or two, snap her neck._

"_You're not welcome here; you'll never __**be**__ welcome here. You should have just stayed away!" Sydney screamed and squeezed harder, rivulets of blood escaped the wounds created by her finger nails, fine trails of crimson ran down the girl's neck, pooling on the hard, damp ground below._

_The alpha's eyes widened as the blue irises of her captive flickered at her. Before Sydney could make a move, the girl's body began to spasm, her legs kicking out underneath her, her arms reaching out and gently slapping against Sydney's skin. It wasn't until her neck sprouted a thick mane of fur that the alpha even flinched._

_Malia's face shifted, her nose turning into a snout and ears popping up from the top of her head. Sydney just clung to her neck tighter. She leaned over the shifting girl and cautiously removed just one of her hands before digging her forearm against her neck, hard. The girl that had been underneath her was now a full coyote but that didn't stop Sydney, if anything it encouraged her. Of course Peter's offspring would be able to shift, to go 'full wolf' as Sydney so desperately desired to do herself but that wasn't important, there was no way this girl was going to be leaving the forest alive._

_A helpless whine escaped the coyote's throat and Sydney leaned forward further, putting more and more weight against her neck. She felt the alpha red of her eyes taking over and glared down at the animal struggling in her hold. With a mental countdown from three, Sydney pressed against the coyote's throat with everything she had and when she head the sickening sound of her throat collapsing, she pressed down even harder. There was no way she was taking any chances._

_The coyote's body went limp but Sydney didn't relinquish her hold, not just yet. She knew that supernatural beings had a tendency to come back to life and she wasn't about to chance it. She needed to make sure Malia was gone, for good._

_Sydney slipped her leg over the animal's body, watching as it began shifting back into the young girl who she had so deeply despised. Malia's eyes flickered blue one last time before rolling into the back of her head, Sydney making her way to her feet._

_Staring down at the limp carcass, Sydney couldn't help but smile at what she had done. With one threat out of the way, all she had to do was make sure no one else crossed her path. Unfortunately for Melissa McCall, that meant she was the next target. Peter was __**hers**__ and no one, absolutely no one, was going to get in her way._

_With one final look at the lifeless body of Malia the werecoyote, Sydney turned on her heels. She took a step forward but felt a slight pressure at the back of her leg. Turning her head back around, her eyes widened at the horrific sight. Malia's canines were out, her body was just barely moving but that didn't matter because before Sydney knew what was really going on, and before she had a chance to stop it, Malia's sharp teeth sank into the back of Sydney's calf, an ear piercing scream erupting from the alpha._

Her eyes burst open and she could feel the powerful red in her irises glowing in the dark. It wasn't that she was scared of her nightmare but she was scared of her downfall. There was no way a lame little werecoyote should have been able to get the best of her, especially after she had killed her.

The arm around her waist tightened and Sydney tensed in Peter's hold. Was this nightmare, this desperate attempt at ending Malia's life, worth telling him about, or should she just keep it to herself? There was no way she'd really act on it, no matter how much she hated the idea of Peter having a child, she wouldn't kill an innocent young girl, would she?

Sydney blinked, forcing her usual brown eyes to come to surface. She rolled onto her back and slipped her leg between his, eliciting a sleep filled growl from him. Peter's hold on her tightened even more and she continued to move, curling up against his chest and burying her head into his shoulder.

"No fireflies tonight." Peter murmured and Sydney let out a shudder at the memory. She had never, ever, woken up from a nightmare clutching a dead bug before but would that happen again? Was it possible for her to wake up next to Malia's limp, dead body?

"No." Sydney replied with a yawn. She ran her hand over his chest and down his arm before taking his hand in hers. Peter slipped his fingers in between hers and leaned towards her, gently kissing her on the lips.

"Was it your parents this time?" His voice was low and filled with concern. She let out a helpless sigh and felt her entire body relax against the covers.

"You love me, right?" She questioned and nuzzled her nose against his warm skin.

"Always." His free hand moved up and tangled in her hair.

"Even if I'm a cold blooded killer?" She pressed.

"Especially if you're a cold blooded killer." Peter smirked at her and she just barely caught sight of it as she leaned back to look into his eyes. When he flashed his icy blue eyes at her she stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut. Those were the same eyes that she had just snuffed the life out of in her dream. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She breathed the word out, hating herself for lying. "Yeah I'm fine. I just don't like you as a beta, that's all."

"Well if all goes according to plan, hopefully I won't be your beta for too much longer."

Sydney snuggled up closer to him and let her body relax. Peter moved in the bed, shifting onto his side before taking her in his arms. She rolled away from him and scooted backwards, her back pressing against his chest as his arm came around her waist once more.

"I love you." She murmured.

"And I will _always_ love you."

_Even if I kill your daughter?_

With that question on her mind, Sydney knew that she was in for one hell of a tough time.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Peter had been watching her more and more. He wasn't about to jump into bed with her but he was beginning to wonder if maybe they could get away with having sex while she was in heat, it'd certainly help her and he knew that it'd help him too. There was no way he'd even begin to consider giving in to her if he was in his right mind but that was exactly the problem. All he could smell was her, all he could hear was her, all he _wanted_ was her.

Sydney had been doing okay still. She was taking the sedative like it was candy and he was glad that she seemed to be making it through. She still complained about her skin feeling hot, or the weird itching sensations throughout her body but that was nothing compared to what she _could_ have been dealing with had he not gotten her the drugs from the vet.

They were surviving, the two of them were going to make it, he'd make sure of it. There wasn't too much left to get through but he knew that it was only going to get harder the longer they put it off. He couldn't even fathom what was in store for him when she was finished suffering through mating season. She'd be starving from not having eaten much; she'd be ready to leave the apartment because she'd spent most of the last few days in bed. Yes, Peter wasn't sure he was prepared for the aftermath.

It didn't matter, they'd deal with it when it happened, that was what they did, they dealt with things as they came.

Peter locked his eyes on the television screen and let out a loud sigh. Batman was on and he had been mindlessly watching it for the past few minutes but it just wasn't the same without Sydney by his side. She had taken more of the tranquilizers and had gone to bed hours earlier. He was anticipating that she'd be out in the next little while to go to the bathroom, maybe grab a drink of water before heading back to bed.

When she appeared in the doorway to their bedroom, he squeezed his eyes shut. Sydney wasn't wearing much at all, yet again the heat running through her veins had clearly gotten the best of her, which meant that she would have stripped down to her underwear and rolled her t-shirt up so that it covered her breasts and nothing more.

"Hey." She breathed the word out and stretched her arms into the air, Peter's eyes watching her abdomen, impressed by the rippling muscles there. She dropped her hands onto her hips and strode forward, taking large, enticing steps towards him.

"How are you feeling?" Peter questioned and relaxed into the couch. She shrugged at him and brought her fingers across her stomach, scratching her skin with her blunt human fingernails. Well that was certainly a much nicer sight than when she had sliced into her very own skin with her claws.

"Horny as shit." She answered after a few seconds. She rolled her shoulders back and closed the distance between her and the couch, flopping down onto the vacant cushion next to Peter.

"Such a lady." He teased, a smirk appearing on his face.

"What's that saying…" she paused and let out a hum, "a lady on the streets but a freak in the bed. That's what I aspire to be."

"Such lovely words of wisdom to live by."

Sydney leaned against him and brought her legs up, tucking them under her bum to give her extra height. She rested her forearms on his shoulder and pressed her chest against his arm. Peter turned his head to look at her and when he met her eyes, he tensed.

He should have known by now that she was going to try to play that card, she had brought her alpha eyes out in a lame attempt to get him to submit. If he was completely honest with himself, she was definitely wearing him down; he was ready to break, to give in to her, to let her win. They'd deal with the consequences later, they'd figure something out, they always did.

"Can I just suggest something?" She purred, her moist, warm lips pressing gently against the side of his neck. She moved her head upwards, trailing kisses up his skin, over his jaw before lingering in front of him, right by his mouth.

"No sex." He growled but he knew that she could feel him faltering; he was breaking, so close to breaking. All she had to do was push a little harder.

"Not even a little bit?" She cocked her head to the side and brought her lips into a pout, looking at him with her fiery red irises.

"Sydney-"

"Please, I need to feel you." She cooed. Her hand ran down his arm and she closed the distance between their lips, pressing hers against his. His entire body tensed as her hand moved lower, down his side, across the top of his jeans and he froze as her fingers moved even lower.

Peter grabbed hold of her hand and pushed it away; knowing that if he let her continue what she was doing that he'd most definitely give in. They were so close to the end, he wasn't going to let her get to him.

Sydney let out a low, ferocious growl and Peter shuddered. She moved her hand out of his hold and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, tugging his arm forward. Her head dropped down towards his shoulder and she snarled against his neck. The sharp points of her canines grazed the skin of his shoulder and when she finally bit down, he could easily feel the blood rushing through his body, gently trickling out of the puncture wounds.

"There's other ways for me to feel you inside me." She purred and when he looked at his hand, the one in her hold, his eyes widened in shock. Whatever she had done when she bit him had brought out his claws; his razor sharp talons were on full display. "You can make it stop."

Peter wasn't entirely sure what to say so he said nothing, watching in awe as she drew his hand forward, pressing the tips of his claws against her stomach, right above her belly button. She let out a low moan and leaned forward, forcing his talons into her skin.

Her entire body turn to goo and she collapsed against him, moaning and groaning as his nails pierced her smooth, flawless skin. He could feel her warm, sticky blood running over his fingers, dripping down his knuckles, as she pushed his hand into her body further.

"What are you doing?" He managed to ask her but he wasn't about to fight her. Whatever she was doing seemed to be quenching his thirst for her as well.

"Who cares, it feels way too good to stop." She murmured in response and wretched her body to the side, forcing his claws to tear into her flesh like knives. She dropped her voice down and brought her lips next to his ear, her breath against his skin sending a shiver down his spine. "Lower."

"Sydney I think you should stop this."

"No, watch, it feels good."

She leaned back the slightest bit and let go of his wrist. He kept his claws in her skin and watched with gross fascination as she forced her own claws out. Sydney lifted the bottom hem of his t-shirt up to reveal his smooth skin before running a claw down his abdominals.

"I don't know that it's going to have the desired effect." He said softly and she let out a whimper before cutting into him, ripping his flesh apart.

As she broke into his skin, he moved his own hand to the side, tearing her skin and muscles apart. Sydney's mouth opened and she gaped at him, forcing her hand to the side too, slicing his skin as she went.

"Come to bed." She purred and shifted forward, rising up on her knees and pressing her forehead against his. "Please?"

"I really, _really_ want to but you and I both know that that can't happen." Peter murmured and brought his free hand upwards, brushing her hair back, away from her face. He tipped his head forward and pressed his lips against her, distracting her with a fierce, fiery kiss as he gently shoved her back, freeing his claws from her flesh.

She moved backwards and dropped onto her butt, looking up at him and letting out a low whimper. Her hand had come free from his abdomen as well, his shirt falling back down to cover his skin. When she blinked, her alpha red eyes disappeared.

"Oh my god." She whispered. "Why did that feel so good?"

"Pain."

She shook her head to try to regain her composure before looking at him. Peter shifted on the couch and moved to sit closer to her, setting his arm over her shoulders and letting her curl up against him. She glanced down at her stomach and watched as the wounds healed up right before her eyes. She noticed that there was blood seeping into his shirt but he seemed unconcerned.

"You're still bleeding." She remarked and brought her hand out, pressing her palm lightly against the wounds she inflicted. The material of the shirt quickly turned a deep crimson colour and Peter tensed under her touch.

"You're an alpha; they'll take longer to heal." Peter pointed out and Sydney let out a sigh, dropping her head against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"Don't be."

She settled down against him and felt his fingers moving in tiny little circles on her bicep. She took hold of his other hand and held his arm out in front of her, his forearm facing upwards. Peter tensed as she moved her index finger, claw and all, down towards his skin.

Without words exchanged between them, she dug her talon into his skin just enough to draw a tiny bit of blood. His eyes never left his arm as she slowly and carefully carved her name into his forearm. When she was done, the stinging sensation moving upwards through his body, she relaxed the slightest bit and smiled at her name not so eloquently etched in his flesh.

"You're a bit possessive, aren't you?"

"You want to carve your name into my back?" She countered with a small, seductive smirk.

He shook his head no and glanced into the kitchen, wondering if she'd be easily distracted by the prospect of food. Surely she had to be hungry and Peter wasn't really sure what else he could use. He didn't really want her to dig her claws into him anymore but if it kept his pants on, well then a little pain never really hurt anybody, not for long anyways.

"Come on; let's see if we can't get you cleaned up." Peter offered and Sydney was quick to climb off of him. She stood in front of the couch and watched as he rose up, blood dribbling down his arm and onto his already bloodstained fingers. She looked at her own hands and let out a sigh. They looked like crazy people all covered in blood, and Peter with her name carved into his arm was worse for wear, at least she was already healed up.

He led her into the kitchen and grabbed the roll of paper towels off the holder. Her eyes never left his hands as he ripped a few sheets off the roll and lifted his shirt up slightly, pressing the paper towels against his still bleeding wounds. Sydney moved her hands forward and held them against his skin as he twisted his body towards the sink, pulling the handle up quickly and dropping his hands under the steady flow of water. When the water from his fingers ran away clear, he took hold of the paper towels and nodded at her, signaling that it was her turn to clean up.

Sydney ran her hands under the cold water and watched carefully as the water turned pink. She laced her fingers together and ran them over each other, rubbing the blood off her skin.

When her hands were clean, she pulled them out from under the water and turned the sink off. Peter pulled the paper towel away from his abdomen and tossed it into the sink before grabbing a couple of fresh ones for his arm. She took hold of his hand and lifted his arm upwards, gently pressing kisses against each letter that she had carved, six in all to spell her name.

"I'm going to go grab some gauze." Peter murmured and she nodded her understanding, letting go of the hold she had on his hand. Sydney remained in the kitchen as Peter stepped around her, heading for the bathroom.

She looked around the room and her eyes fell on the island, more specifically onto her cell phone. She hadn't contacted anyone since she had arrived back from her visit to the sewer and now she was curious. Was anyone looking for her, wondering where she was, or did they _know_?

She slowly stepped towards the island and when she was close enough, she grabbed hold of her phone and pushed the button, turning it on. She waited for a few seconds and when it loaded up, she noticed that she had a few text messages, some from Stiles, a couple from Derek, even one from Liam asking her when she was going to explain eye colour to him. She jumped as the phone vibrated in her hand and immediately brought the newest text up onto the screen. Stiles had sent it and with each word, she felt the air rushing out of her lungs.

_Malia knows that her last name is Hale. Don't tell Peter._

Sydney quickly deleted the text message and fought off the urge to growl. No, no she didn't want the werecoyote infringing on her territory, Peter was hers, all hers. Malia didn't get to ruin everything that she had worked so hard to build up.

With one little growl, she brought up Stiles number and quickly typed out a text in response.

_You better hope she knows what she's doing._

Sydney waited for it to send before turning the phone back off. Yes Stiles had better hope that Malia knew what she was doing because if she played her cards wrong, she'd be facing a very pissed off alpha in the form of Sydney Vance.

Malia had better watch out.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_I'm just curious as to what you guys think of Malia? Sydney clearly does not like her, do you think that Sydney will always harbour a sort of hatred for the girl (and that maybe one day she will kill her) or do you think that maybe Sydney will eventually come around to Malia? It would seem that Sydney found another, more creative, way to deal with her heat, thoughts?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Poor girl doesn't know who to believe in anymore. Thanks for the review!_**

**__****_Luna888: Thanks for the review :) _**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	21. Chapter 21

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 21****:**

Sydney was still kind of out of it from the past few days. Sure her heat was pretty much over and any lingering desire to get Peter in bed had faded away to nearly nothing, that didn't mean she was going to pass up the opportunity to have sex with him if it came up. No, she wasn't about to ignore her urges but she was certainly able to control them slightly better now that she wasn't driven purely by instinct.

In fact, she had woken up that morning feeling energized and ready for the day. Instead of getting up for the sole purpose of going to the bathroom, she actually got out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower, where she washed away the past few days grime from her skin. Once she was squeaky clean, she had thrown on actual clothes and not just more pajamas. Yes, she was starting to feel like her old self again, no itching, her skin wasn't tight and her body felt cooler than it had in days.

Her next step was food, lots and lots of food. She had cooked up a pound of bacon and scrambled about six eggs. Between her and Peter, they had devoured it all, including a couple pieces of toast. She wasn't going to deny it though, she _had_ eaten most of the bacon, as she had expected. After days without eating much at all, she had been starving and Sydney was thankful that it was for food and not sex like it had been.

Her day had been going pretty smoothly, no more texts from Stiles concerning Malia, no frantic phone calls from him or Liam. She was enjoying an uneventful day, at least she had been until Peter sauntered into the living room, where she had been lounging on the couch watching television, and announced that he had things to do. He had dropped down and sat next to her for a few minutes, testing her stability. Sydney still had some of the drugs left and she knew that if he felt she wasn't ready to go without them, he'd hand her the pills and tell her to take them.

Thankfully she had passed whatever test he had administered, she was free and clear to go with him, without being drugged. Oh the joy of no longer dealing with heat, instead, as Peter so nicely informed her, she was going on a little field trip to the Hale vault.

Sydney had followed Peter willingly as he ventured to the underground room, she had stuck right by him, watching him carefully as he brought his claws out and shoved them into the locking mechanism. Her eyes had studied the movements he made and she hoped that she could remember them, whether it would do her any good or not, that was a different story, but at least if she knew how to make the design move, she stood a chance at getting inside, if she ever needed to.

As they entered the vault, her ears had picked up on the sound of a vibrating cell phone and she patted herself down, feeling for her own personal device. At the discovery that it wasn't her phone that was vibrating, she rolled her eyes. So the little werecoyote was here, she was in the vault, and she clearly wasn't trying to be quiet about it. Sydney wasn't pleased with what was about to go down, she didn't want Peter near the girl yet they were all in the same room. Shit was about to hit the fan.

A low growl erupted from Sydney's throat and Peter glanced back at her, tilting his head at the noise in confusion. Was he totally dense, did he not understand that Sydney wanted nothing more than for him to leave the poor girl alone? Or that she'd be perfectly content if he walked away from his _child_ only to spend the rest of his life focused solely on her?

So maybe it was more for her own selfish reasons, did that really matter? She wanted Peter all to herself; she didn't want to have to share him with some illegitimate child that he hadn't even known about until stupid Lydia had told him he was more than an uncle. Yes, Sydney's memories of the strawberry blonde were less than fond, which was why she was slightly more hostile towards Lydia Martin than she probably should have been.

"I want to go home." She hissed at him, her voice low and threatening. Peter didn't even bother dignifying her complaint with a response, instead he surged forward, descending the stairs and heading deeper into the vault.

Sydney threw her hands into the air in frustration but galloped right down the steps after him, catching up to Peter quickly. Her chest collided with his back and her arms snaked around his waist, drawing him against her as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Peter tensed in her hold but slowly started to relax as her lips pressed against the side of his neck.

"Later." He groaned and she could tell that he was fighting with himself over whether or not he'd give in to her at that moment. "I'm in the middle of something."

She forced her canines out and dragged the razor sharp points across his skin but she didn't bite down, no that was reserved for later, for when she had him all to herself. She pulled her head away from him and unwrapped her arms from around him, taking a step around his body and snagging the lead away from him. Peter followed her closely and reached out, taking hold of her hand. Her fingers immediately intertwined with his and she moved to stand next to him, resting her head against his shoulder and letting out a soft sigh.

When they reached the second set of stairs, Sydney paused and sniffed the air. Yes Malia was definitely here, she was right in the safe with them and for the first time in a long while, Sydney wasn't entirely sure what Peter's plan was. He had to know that she wasn't about to make nice with the girl, she had expressed on more than one occasion that she didn't like the idea of him being near the girl but that didn't seem to matter to Peter.

If it did matter to Peter, they certainly wouldn't be in the vault a mere twenty feet away from Malia, watching as she pulled on the handle to the safe, the same safe that had contained the bearer bonds once before. Loud creaks were heard echoing in the vault as Malia regrouped and made another attempt at breaking the safe open.

Peter silently made his way down the next set of stairs, Sydney following his lead but being slightly less careful. She wanted Malia to know she was there, she wanted the werecoyote to attack, to put her in a position where she'd have no choice but to defend herself. Sydney, as usual, was itching for a fight and the girl in the Hale vault was clearly the easiest target at that exact moment.

Peter's hand waved at Sydney and he freed his fingers from her grip. Sydney stayed where she was and slowly lowered herself down towards the cold, hard floor. She took a seat on one of the bottom steps and leaned back slightly, looking up at Peter with her big brown eyes. He forced a smirk in her direction before moving forward, leaving her in the shadows to sit on the stairs by herself.

At the louder creaking sound of metal, Sydney jerked her head to the right the slightest bit and watched as Malia finally managed to pull the handle of the safe clear off. The girl ran her fingers along the seam and the door slowly swung open. The alpha werewolf shoved her hands in between her thighs and fought off the urge to sigh, or growl, at this point it didn't matter. She was frustrated, clearly perturbed at Peter but no one seemed to be paying any attention to her.

Malia clearly had no idea what she was really getting involved in, especially when it came to Peter Hale, and when the girl reached into the now unlocked safe and wrapped her dirty paws around the edge of the file folder inside, Sydney rolled her eyes.

_Get out, get out, get out. _She chanted in her head, desperate to get Malia out of Peter's sight, out of her life altogether.

Peter stepped forward, his footsteps loud and calculated, and caught the coyote's attention. Malia looked at him with a wondrous gaze but Sydney knew better, she was aware that Peter wasn't here to make nice with her; he was here because the werecoyote could somehow help him with his own devious plan.

"I've got to buy a better safe." Peter drawled and cocked his head to the side.

Sydney scoffed at his statement and caught both Malia and Peter's attention. The werecoyote locked her gaze on Sydney, who slowly rose to her feet and ran her hands down her sides. Sydney bared her teeth and stepped towards the father-daughter duo, a low, threatening rumble emanating from her chest.

"What's _she_ doing here?" Malia snapped and pointed her finger in Sydney's direction.

"I have a name you know, it's Sydney." Sydney shot back and nodded her head in Peter's direction. "And if you must know, I'm here with him."

"What is she to you?" Malia questioned, turning her attention to the only male in the vault. Peter smirked at the girl's curiosity.

"You haven't figured it out by now?" Peter baited her and Malia looked between the two of them, trying to see if there was something she had missed. Sydney rolled her eyes at his unnecessary theatrics while Malia simply looked totally lost and utterly confused. "She's my mate."

"What does that even mean?"

"Didn't your mother teach you anything?" Sydney muttered but Malia's eyes widened the slightest bit.

"My mother died when I was young." Malia stated, her voice confident and firm but Sydney knew how hard it would have been to admit that, to tell someone about the unfortunate demise of a parent, especially if that someone was currently standing next to the man that everyone had clearly warned Malia about. Maybe Sydney had even more in common with Malia that she originally figured. She hadn't actually taken the time to get to know Malia and she easily could have asked Stiles what her story was but she had hated her right off the bat.

"I'm sorry." Sydney nodded and hoped that her tone came off as genuine because she knew what it felt like to lose a mother; she knew that it was one of the most painful things in the world and she didn't wish that pain upon even her greatest enemy.

"My adoptive mother anyways." Malia's eyes dropped to the folder and Sydney made a move to step forward but Peter lifted his hand and waved her off. She knew what he was doing; he was regaining control of the situation, the situation that he hadn't really ever had much control of to start with.

"I can't let you leave here with that." Peter broke in, Sydney hung back, giving him the space he desired. She knew where her place was, she knew what Peter wanted her to do in this instance and that was take a back seat and watch, to take everything in and simply be a bystander.

"Maybe you won't have a choice." Malia challenged him and gripped the folder tighter in her hands. She was fierce and feisty, that much was clear and if she hadn't had the unfortunate circumstance of being Peter's daughter, Sydney could have really taken a shining to her. She would have been a decent pack member, she was loyal to Stiles and that loyalty could be translated to an alpha with the right amount of guidance.

"Is that right?" Peter countered and Sydney let out a low sigh as the two of them started circling each other. Whether she was part animal or not, she was sick and tired of this circling business, honestly what did it really accomplish, aside from putting off whatever was about to come? What the hell was he doing anyways? She wanted him to get this whole little meeting over with, to get away from Malia yet here he was, bargaining with her, trying to get Malia on his side.

"I think I could take you." Malia said firmly. Sydney stepped away from the two of them and leaned her hip against one of the columns in the vault. She crossed her arms over her chest and simply watched as they sized each other up. The longer they circled each other, the more bored she became.

Malia was insanely fierce and stupidly brave but Peter was cunning, very much so. He knew how to use his strengths perfectly and he was very well versed in hiding his weaknesses, especially from his enemies. It would certainly be an interesting fight, _if_ Sydney let it get to that point. She wasn't about to stand by and watch Peter fight the girl though, not when she so desperately wanted to see what the werecoyote was made of herself.

"You've heard rumors that I'm not as strong as I used to be."

"Something like that."

Peter threw his arm out to the side and brought his fist into the concrete support column nearby, punching a hole into the structure. Sydney gaped at him, not because she was impressed by his show of strength, but because he was being a theatrical show off yet again, not to mention he was toying with the structural integrity of the underground vault and Sydney wasn't a fan of being in an enclosed space that wasn't structurally sound. Being buried alive didn't really appeal to her.

"Anyone could have done that, but I guess that's my cue." Sydney muttered and pushed her body away from the column she was leaning against. She settled her eyes on Malia and spoke louder, clearer than she had just seconds ago. "Look, maybe you should just get out of here."

She was desperate in her attempt to play the role of nonchalant partner but what Sydney was truly trying to do was to get her to go, not because she'd be safer but because she didn't want Peter and Malia to interact at all.

"Without this?" Malia tapped her finger on the folder and shook her head at Sydney's suggestion. "I don't think so."

"I just said you can't leave with it. I didn't say you couldn't _read_ it." Peter interjected and Sydney's jaw clenched, her teeth grinding together, and she desperately found herself trying to keep calm. She made a mental note to point out to Peter, when Malia wasn't around, who the alpha was in the relationship, he clearly needed a reminder that his eyes were blue and hers were red.

Malia took one last look at Sydney and Peter before flipping the front of the file open and glancing over the pages inside. Sydney hadn't seen the file before but she didn't figure it held too much information, if it did, Peter would have made sure she knew, hell he would have had an elaborate plan cooked up and put into place by now if that had been the case.

"It just says that I'm adopted." Malia murmured, more to herself than to anyone. Sydney took a step towards the girl but Peter's hand came around her shoulder and gently pulled her back.

"You want to talk about it? See a family counselor?" Peter taunted.

"The fuck? Back off." Sydney growled in Peter's direction but he wasn't fazed by her words.

"Does _she_ know what's in this file?" Malia questioned and Peter shook his head no. "Is she involved?"

"I'm literally standing right here." Sydney scoffed. "If you have something to say, you can say it to my face."

"Do you know what's in this file?" Malia corrected herself and set her sights on Sydney.

"I'm not fucking involved; and if I'm completely honest here, I don't want a damn thing to do with you."

Sydney wasn't entirely sure but she could have sworn that there was almost a hint of rejection on Malia's face at her words. She hadn't meant to sound as malicious as she had but the words had come out of her mouth without her thinking about the repercussions and now it was too late.

"There's nothing in there." Malia pointed out. A small smile crept onto Sydney's face at the admission. Good, maybe Peter would just drop it, hell maybe Malia would accept her shady background and move on.

"Cost me a lot of money to get that file." Peter offered.

"Money that _you_ don't have." Sydney muttered but remained ignored, this time Peter didn't even look in her direction, he was too focused on Malia.

"You got ripped off." Malia said flatly.

"Probably." Sydney scoffed and tossed her head backwards, looking up at the ceiling. When she dropped her head back down, she looked at Peter, studying his movements.

"You know what happens when you only hear one side of a story?" Peter baited and walked forward, Malia heading in the opposite direction so that the two were right back to circling each other. "You've only heard _one_ side of the story."

"She's not going to get anything informative from you." Sydney cut in.

"You murdered people." Malia added. "Not killed, murdered."

"Fair point." Sydney nodded her agreement. She found herself enjoying the role of devil's advocate. If she could keep Malia on the 'let's hate Peter' track, that meant that Sydney would continue to have him all to herself. "Sometimes people have to die though."

"There were extenuating circumstances." Peter argued calmly.

"Like what? The fire?" Oh so Malia knew about the fire, huh, well, that was news to Sydney, although she shouldn't have been as surprised as she was, the girl was dating Stiles after all. Stiles tended to blab about anything and everything if he was baited in the right way.

"A fire that nearly burned me alive. Six years in a coma, do you know what that's like for one of us? It's not a pleasant sleep." Peter started and even Sydney found herself going quiet as he spoke. He hadn't ever really spoken about his comatose state and Sydney hadn't given it too much thought before. "Imagine it; being trapped in your body, but still being fully cognizant, unable to do anything other than listen to your own thoughts slowly driving you absolutely and totally insane, minute-by-minute, day-by-day. Yes, I've done horrible, terrible things, and so have a lot of people."

"Like her?" Malia cut in and waved her hand in Sydney's direction. "Is that why she's with you?"

"What I've done is none of your business." Sydney growled. "You don't know me, you don't know my life story and even if you did, you still don't get to judge me."

"So you _have_ done horrible, terrible things?" Malia locked her gaze onto Sydney but Sydney merely held her ground, not giving this girl anything to go on. She remained silent and tried to control the wolf clawing to get out and tear this girl to pieces.

"Horrible, terrible things are going to keep happening, especially when there's a dead pool with your name on it." Peter piped up and took over the conversation yet again, breaking the mounting tension between the two females.

"But not yours." Malia pointed out. She looked at Sydney and wondered how much she knew. Was hearing that Peter's name wasn't on the list news to her? If it was, Sydney made no move to suggest she was shocked. Malia silently vowed to talk to Stiles, now she was curious as to whether or not Sydney's name was on the list as well. She hadn't really paid that much attention to the list, not once she had seen her own name, and Stiles hadn't exactly said anything about the female at Peter's side, did that mean that there was something off about Sydney too? Was she part of something bigger, something way worse?

"True but I am not The Benefactor. I'm just a guy who's out millions of dollars, a few thousand of which I used trying to help you." Peter said, his eyes catching Sydney's attention. The female alpha was clearly starting to get antsy and the quicker he could diffuse the situation, the better Peter would feel. There was no need for his mate to rip apart his child, not yet at least.

"Me?"

"How does the bad guy prove that he's not so bad?" Peter paused and waited for either girl to reply. When neither one of them did, he continued talking, as though they weren't even there to begin with. "By doing an act of kindness."

"What could you ever do for me?" Malia asked skeptically. Clearly this girl was smarter than Sydney thought, even if she had spent eight years as a wild animal.

"Help you find your mother. I'm pretty interested myself as the memory was stolen from me by my sister, Talia."

"So it's not her?" Malia nodded in Sydney's direction, who let out a bark of laughter at her question.

"Me? Jesus, how old do you think I am; wait, how bad at math are you, really? That's not even physically possible." Sydney tried to brush off Malia's insulting words but the truth was, she was pretty perturbed by the idea of being with someone who had a child with someone else. It bothered her way more than she let on. "I would have been like seven when you were born."

"Okay. Fine." Malia nodded her understanding, so Sydney wasn't her mother, that cleared a few things up but it created more questions. "Then what did you find?"

"A woman, might be her. I don't have a name yet, just a particularly interesting alias; she's called The Desert Wolf. Do you know what that means?"

"That she likes the heat?" Sydney snorted with frustration and turned on her heels, hoping that Peter was almost done in the vault. She made her way towards the stairs as she tried to ignore the two but Malia's voice caught her attention.

"Coyote."

Sydney slipped off to the side, watching carefully as Malia abandoned the file and said her vague goodbyes to Peter, which were more like grunts than actual words.

Sydney's butt came in contact with the stairs and she took a seat on the hard, stone floor, her eyes locking onto Peter as he crossed the room and dropped down to a crouch in front of her. His hand moved out towards her and he tucked her hair behind her ear, bringing her eyes up to meet his.

"I should go see Deaton." She murmured.

"Any particular reason?"

"To say thanks, you know, for the drugs."

"Be careful."

Sydney nodded her understanding and turned her head away from him, fighting back the tears that she could feel welling up in her eyes. Peter rose up to his full height and dangled his hand in front of her, offering it to her. She took hold of it and pulled herself upwards, tucking her body against his and burying her face in his chest before the tears came, before he could see them.

"I'll see you later." She said but her words were muffled by his chest.

"I know."

He pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head and slipped away from her, leaving her at the bottom of the stairs inside the vault. Sydney kept her back to him as he mounted the stairs and made his way out from the underground room. Lifting her hands up, she brushed the tears away and let out a long sigh.

Maybe Peter knew what he was doing to her, maybe he was totally oblivious, either way Sydney was tired of feeling like she wasn't enough for him. In her mind, he didn't need to find Malia's mother, he didn't need to get involved in anything. He had her, that had to be enough, that had to mean _something._

Sydney crossed the room and came to stand in front of the column that Peter had punched into. She ran her fingers along the jagged edges and flinched when a sharp piece of stone material nicked her finger. She studied the droplet of blood forming there and when she wiped it on her jeans, she brought her finger back up and noticed that it had healed perfectly.

If only her life could be fixed as easily, then she'd be golden.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_And here we are, Malia and Sydney meet face to face with Peter in the mix. Do you agree with Malia's uneasiness regarding Sydney and whether or not she can be trusted? I'd love to hear what you guys think would happen if Malia's mother ever made her way back into the picture, how do you think Peter would handle the Desert Wolf and Sydney? Who do you think he'd chose if it came down to it? And what do you think Sydney would do if she ever encountered the Desert Wolf?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Sydney just doesn't like the idea of having to share Peter's attention. No worries though, Sydney is not a cold-blooded killer, she won't be killing Malia any time soon. Thanks for the review, hopefully this chapter gave you a better understanding of Sydney's feelings towards Malia!_**

**_OutlawqueenFTW: If Lydia and Stiles dated in this story, Sydney would not be any less hostile towards the girl :P _**

**_Guest: Ah yes, the claws coming out. She basically used her bite to force him to submit to her and do exactly what she wanted, which was bring his claws out. Thanks for the review!_**

**_LirealAion: Your theories were really good! Peter and Sydney are not a 'normal' couple lol. Thanks for the review!_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	22. Chapter 22

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 22****:**

She wasn't entirely comfortable with heading to the animal clinic to seek out Deaton but she knew it had to be done, in order for her to gain insight and information; she'd have to bite the bullet. There were things she needed to talk to him about and him giving her drugs to help deal with her heat was only just the beginning.

Sydney had questions, lots of questions and she figured that of all the people in Beacon Hills, he was the one most likely to know about other wolves, more specifically her parents. She was surprised she hadn't considered it sooner but then again, she hadn't exactly been aware that Deaton actually gave a shit about her but with the drugs he gave her to battle her heat came an opportunity and Sydney wasn't about to pass it up.

The building looked larger than she remembered and slightly more ominous but she wasn't deterred, a little anxious sure but definitely not deterred. She could vaguely recall the mentioning of the building being made of mountain ash and Sydney simply hoped that she could manage to get inside without too much trouble. She was going to do it the old fashioned way, without having to break the lock and sneak in, she was going to knock on the door and simply make friendly conversation with the vet.

Deaton had helped her once, he had been the person that Derek had rushed her too when she had taken the Oni's sword to her abdomen but if she was completely honest, most of that night was a blur, fuzzy around the edges. She wasn't sure if she had blocked it out willingly or if she had been unconscious longer than she had figured.

Her footsteps were cautious and quiet and she wandered towards the front door, pressing her face against the glass, peeking in and seeking out a sign that someone, anyone, was inside. When she spotted the light erupting from the back hallway, paired with the steady beating of a heart, she knew that someone was inside and chances were good that it was the vet himself.

"Here goes nothing." Sydney muttered to herself and straightened her body up. She lifted her hand up and gently rapped her knuckles against the glass, hoping to catch the person's attention without too much force. She waited for a few seconds but, upon hearing no footsteps heading in her direction, knocked again, this time she rapped her knuckles against the glass a little bit harder.

A few seconds later, her eyes peering into the animal clinic, Deaton appeared in the hallway and looked at her through the door. A small, hesitant smile spread out on his face and she let out a breath, hoping that he'd speak with her, that he could tell her what she wanted to know.

Sydney waved her hand at him and the vet strode forward, towards the door, confidence in his movements that she hadn't really noticed before. This man carried himself very well, so well that she'd be surprised if he ever decided to break his stoic demeanour, even in a time of panic when everyone around him was frantic and freaking out.

Deaton closed the distance between his body and the door, immediately reaching out and flipping the deadbolt on the metal part of the entryway. Sydney took a step back and waited for him to open the door, she wasn't going to be rude, not when there was a possibility that he could tell her about her parents. She was going to be polite and likeable, patient even, that was her goal, that's what she was going to stick too.

"Forgive me but I wasn't expecting any clients tonight." He spoke softly yet confidently and Sydney smiled at him, trying to keep herself composed. It wasn't every day that standing in front of a man put her on edge but she knew not to underestimate him, he wasn't just some weak human, no, there was so much more to the man standing in front of her. He was highly intelligent and had years of experience under his belt, she wasn't going to ignore any of that simply because she was an alpha, of course not, Deaton had defenses in place to protect himself from the supernatural and Sydney wasn't going to compromise that just to get some information out of him.

"I just wanted to say thank you." She replied, her voice just as soft.

"Would you like to come inside?" Deaton questioned and stepped off to the side, waving her through the door. Once she was securely inside the waiting room, Deaton let the door fall shut before throwing the bolt back across to keep out unwanted visitors. While he may have wanted her inside, Sydney knew that there were other threats out there that wouldn't be as welcome within the walls of the animal clinic.

The female alpha waited patiently and when Deaton turned to face the entryway to the back hallway, she followed his lead, sticking right by him as he led her through a swinging gate and deeper into the dimly lit clinic. Sydney kept her eyes trained on the vet in front of her and when they entered a back room, the metal operating table prominent in the middle, she couldn't help but smile.

"I appreciate what you did for me, giving me the sedatives and all." Sydney broke the silence that had fallen between them, bringing up the easiest topic of conversation first. Deaton nodded his understanding and motioned for her to sit on the table, Sydney following his silent demand. She really had appreciated him giving her the sedatives, without the drugs, she was sure would have had a hell of a time over the past few days, if she managed to stay away from Peter at all.

"It was no trouble, really." Deaton countered and tilted his head to the side, studying her face for a few seconds. "If you don't mind, I'd like your permission to examine you."

"Examine me? Uh, what are you talking about here?"

"Nothing too invasive, I'd just like a chance to take a look at you considering the last time you were in my office you had a festering wound from a samurai sword in your torso."

Sydney pressed her lips together and nodded her understanding. Well on the bright side he had a legitimate reason to check her over and she wasn't about to say no to that. He had a point, the last time she had been in this very room, she had technically died. The only reason that she was alive today was because of Peter and what he had done for her.

"You knew about Peter's alpha status?" Sydney asked quietly as Deaton strode across the room and grabbed hold of a stethoscope which had been resting on the counter not too far away. He turned and faced Sydney, placing the medical device in his ears and taking hold of the end that was going to be pressed against her chest soon enough.

"I had my suspicions beforehand but that night it was merely confirmed." Deaton answered. "Would you please remove your jacket?"

Sydney flipped her arms back and maneuvered out of her leather jacket, peeling it away from her body and freeing herself from the garment. She then roughly folded it and set it against the vacant patch of table beside her, straightening her body up, tensing as he leaned towards her.

"Why did you help me?" She inquired.

"Breathe in." He instructed and she did as she was told, watching as his hand slipped just under the collar of her shirt. She felt a shiver course through her body at the feeling of the cold, metal stethoscope pressing against her warm skin. "While I'm rather cautious of the company that you keep, you've proven to be a valuable ally to the true alpha, Scott McCall."

"I have not." She scoffed. Apparently he wasn't as reluctant to speak to her as she first believed and he was clearly a little delusional. She had helped Scott out a little bit and she had done all she could for the Stilinskis but did that warrant her being called a valuable ally?

Deaton motioned for her to take another deep breath and he continued to check her heart beat, Sydney not saying another word as he continued his examination.

"Your relationship with the Stilinski boy is enough proof for me. Even under the control of a dark spirit you were standing in front of him, making sure that he was protected. When I witnessed the two of you under possession together, I knew there was more to it than just friendship."

Sydney tilted her head to the side at his words. Yes, this was what she wanted to know about too. In addition to finding out about her very own parents, she had wanted nothing more than to find out if it was possible for Stiles to be bonded to her. Was there more to Stiles and her? Was he linked to her, could he really be her emissary?

"And what did you come up with?" She asked and Deaton pulled away from her, wandering around the table and pressing the stethoscope against her back. She knew enough to breathe in as the device pressed against her skin, another shiver running up her spine.

"It's very possible that he will become very useful to you in the future."

Right, yes, of course. Deaton never just handed out relevant information. She _did_ remember that, Stiles had told her once before that the man behind her kept things to himself until it was almost too late. Well she wasn't going to get angry, she was going to take what she could get, anything was better than nothing. Maybe if she continued to prod him, to ask him questions; he'd give her enough vague information that she could piece it together and form her own conclusions based on what he had said.

Deaton removed the stethoscope from her back and sauntered across the room, setting the device back on the counter where he had picked it up from moments ago. Sydney swung her legs over the side of the table and kept her eyes trained on him. He grabbed hold of a little metal cylinder and before she could ask him what it was, he was standing in front of her, his hand holding her chin and a bright light shining out from the end of the cylinder. A flashlight bore into her eyes but she didn't look away, she stared straight ahead.

"If you could please-"

She knew what he wanted her to do so without further hesitation; she shut her eyes, focused her energy and brought her alpha red irises out. When she opened her eyes, Deaton was looking at her, not in wonder or surprise but in what she could only call amusement.

"You knew I killed Ennis, didn't you?" Sydney murmured and held still as he shined the flashlight in both of her eyes. He gave her a slight nod but she had already known the answer, he certainly _did_ know, hell she had killed the alpha in question _in_ the animal clinic. "Yet you didn't tell Scott?"

"It's not my place." Deaton stated. "Besides, I had some things of my own to figure out about you."

"Like what?"

"Let's go back to the topic of Stilinski, shall we?" Deaton smirked at her and released her chin from his hold. He tucked the tiny little flashlight into the pocket on the front of his pants and set his hands on his hips.

"I have a theory." Sydney remarked.

"Would you care to share it with me?"

"You _want_ to hear it?"

"Of course."

Sydney took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. She contemplated the consequences that would come from sharing her theory with the vet and decided that whatever was coming her way, she'd rather face it with Deaton knowing what she was thinking. He had never done anything to suggest that he'd act out of malice towards her, in fact he had just admitted to keeping her secret. He easily could have told Scott McCall, or anyone for that matter, that she was an alpha, but he hadn't.

"Well, alphas have emissaries right and I'm an alpha now so I think it might be possible that Stiles is _my_ emissary." She paused and waited for him to respond but when he made no move to say anything, she continued trying to plead her case. "It's probably a terrible idea but-"

"On the contrary, it is _very_ possible. As I said earlier, there's more than just a friendship between the two of you."

"So I'm not crazy for thinking that he could be my emissary one day?"

"The supernatural works in strange ways."

Sydney smiled at him, knowing how true his words were. She didn't need an explanation, she knew that dealing with the supernatural wasn't cut and dry, sometimes things worked and sometimes people ended up possessed by dark, vengeful spirits. It's just the way it turned out.

"You said you had some things to figure out for yourself, what kind of things? Is there something about me that puzzles you?"

Deaton rocked his head from side to side and Sydney knew that he was trying to figure out how to say what was on his mind in a way that would give her enough to understand but not enough that he gave away his secrets. She figured that being vague and cryptic required a little more thought than normal so, as she had vowed to do, she remained silent, patiently waiting for him to speak.

"When you became an alpha by taking Ennis' life, my immediate thought was how much you resembled your mother."

"My mom?" Sydney gaped at him, her eyes widening at the mention of her very own mother. "You knew my mom?"

"Brynn Vance, yes I certainly did. She and Talia used to seek out my advice and guidance-"

"My mom _and_ Talia? Why would- hang on, what do you know about my mom? Do you know about my dad too?"

"I do." Deaton paused and lifted his hand up, tapping his index fingers against his chin. "He was brought here by your mother one night, the same night that she turned him."

Sydney leaned back on the table and studied the vet in front of her. Her mother, as far as she was aware, had always been a beta, a born wolf, but a beta nonetheless. She knew that her mother was part of Talia's pack, which is why when her parents were slaughtered she had gone to stay with the Hales for the days directly following the heinous crime. Unfortunately the American government didn't know about werewolves and thus didn't recognize packs as 'next of kin'. Sydney had been shipped off to her only living blood relatives, which happened to be her dad's parents.

"My mom was a beta." Sydney pointed out, not necessarily arguing with the man but she was stating the facts, the facts that she knew were true. Her mother had always had the blue eyes of a killer, for as long as Sydney could remember, and if her mother _had been_ an alpha, then there would have been no need for her family to recognize Talia as their alpha.

"Your father was a beta, _her_ beta to be exact."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Deaton pushed himself away from the counter and moseyed out of the room. Sydney remained on the metal table where she was sitting as she tried to wrap her head around what he had said. Her mother had turned her father, but she could only remember her mother ever being a beta. Had Deaton really just suggested that her own mother had been an alpha at one point? And that she was the alpha who had turned her father into a werewolf?

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried desperately to remember anything about her parents. Mason and Brynn Vance had been ripped apart, slaughtered in front of Sydney's very eyes but was there something else in her mind, something that she had missed? The bloodbath in her kitchen would forever be ingrained in her memories, but had that particular event clouded her memories enough for her to forget her mother was an alpha? Or worse, had someone stolen those particular memories from her?

When she opened her eyes, Deaton wandered back into the room and handed her an old photograph. Sydney immediately recognized the people standing next to each other in the picture. Talia had her arm around her mother's shoulders while her mother was half-heartedly tucked under the arm of her father. Their eyes were all shut tight and by the looks of pure bliss on their faces, Sydney could conclude that they were all laughing.

"Your mother was an alpha in that photo. She and Talia Hale used to have their own packs and while they governed their respective betas, there was a mutual understanding between your mother, Brynn, and Talia."

"But I don't remember her being an alpha, if she was an alpha, why don't I remember that?"

"There were some complications…" Deaton trailed off and Sydney leaned forward.

"What kind of complications and what the hell are you talking about?" So much for patience, Sydney wanted to know about her parents, more specifically her mother, and she wanted to know now.

"You, it all comes down to you." Deaton said and fixed her with an intense stare.

"Me?"

"While most werewolves give birth without too much trouble, your mother was struggling while she was pregnant with you. By no one's fault, she went into labour prematurely and your father brought her to me."

"What happened?" Sydney dropped her voice down, not only because she was now a little saddened by his words but because she was also trying to keep from getting too frustrated with the mysterious vet in front of her. "What happened to her alpha spark?"

"Simply put, she gave it to you."

"But I wasn't an alpha, not until I killed Ennis-"

"It doesn't quite work that way, you didn't inherit it in the sense that you'd become an alpha in your own right but your mother forfeited her alpha spark in order to save you. She had an extremely difficult labour and I wasn't sure you were going to make it but your mother, she wasn't going to give up on you."

"So _what_ happened?"

"She held on, she fought for you and when you finally made your way into the world, you weren't breathing. She took you from my hold and clung to you. I believe she did something very much the same as Peter did that night you came here after you had been attacked by the Oni."

"My mom gave up her alpha spark to save me?" Sydney murmured, more to hear the words out loud than to question his reliability when it came to her mother.

"As any parent would."

"So she really was an alpha…"

"Yes, a powerful one at that."

"Wait could she go full wolf?" Sydney twisted her head and locked her eyes on Deaton, an excited expression taking place on her face. "Was she just as powerful as Talia?"

"She and Talia were equals until she gave birth to you. I believe your mother always feared that you would be born a human."

"Why?"

"Your father was turned, there's a higher chance that the product of a bitten werewolf will be born fully human."

"Right, really?"

"Of course. Your father had convinced your mother that if you _were_ a human, that they could handle it. He wasn't bitten until he was an adult, he could have managed to take care of you, to keep you safe."

"Well hang on, you said she turned him, but why was he bitten?"

Sydney hadn't had the chance to ask her parents about how they came to be werewolves. Aside from the fact that she knew her mother had been born a wolf, she hadn't really given too much thought to her father's situation. She had been a child, an oblivious child who had been more concerned with playing outside than learning her family history.

"He and your mother had been out one night and she had been the target of one of the hunters for quite some time. It was an unfortunate case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The injuries he sustained were too great for a human to survive so your mother did what she felt she had to do, she bit him and, as a result, he turned."

"That's why grandma had such an aversion to me being a werewolf." Sydney sighed. "She probably hated my mom for what she did to my dad."

"Mason Vance wouldn't have survived without her." Deaton pointed out.

"Yeah but he also wouldn't have been attacked if he hadn't been with her. My grandma would have looked at it that way." Sydney countered.

"Your mother was an exceptional alpha." Deaton said softly and Sydney couldn't help but smile. If her mother was an alpha, an exceptional one at that, maybe she could be too. "I hope to see her reflected in you one day."

"Yeah, me too."

A blanket of silence fell over them and Sydney took her bottom lip between her teeth. It was a lot to take in, especially when she hadn't really been expecting much from him at all yet Deaton had given her way more than she could have dreamed. Her mother, Brynn Vance, had been a powerful alpha, an alpha that had been aligned with Talia Hale, an alpha who had given up her powers in order to save her daughter.

Then there was the fact that her mother had bitten, and turned, her father. Sydney hadn't known that, she had only known that her grandparents refused to acknowledge her supernatural abilities, they had wanted her to be raised just like a normal, human child. For the most part, they had succeeded, it wasn't until they had passed away that Sydney started really taking an interest in her inner wolf.

"I sincerely believe that you can be as great as she once was." Deaton broke the silence between them and Sydney nodded, yes she wanted to believe that too, which was why she needed to start thinking for herself.

She needed to pull away from Peter's control, she needed to be the alpha that her mother and father would be proud of.

"I'm not going to hurt them, not if I can help it." Sydney offered. "Scott's a good guy; I want to see him succeed."

"As do I but that doesn't mean that I don't want to see you succeed as well."

"All I can do is my best, right?" She asked with a small smirk.

"You should have a little more faith in yourself Sydney; you were born from an amazing pair of werewolves."

"I've still got a lot to learn."

"So does everyone."

She hopped down from the table and grabbed hold of her jacket, slipping her arms into the sleeves. Sydney glanced at the vet and debated asking him the question that had been floating around in her head. She wanted to know the answer but he had already given her so much to think about. Without hesitating a second longer, she opened her mouth and let the words spill out.

"Is there a way to make someone submit to me, someone who's not just an ordinary beta?"

"I've only heard rumours."

"And what kind of rumours have you heard?" Sydney pressed, stuffing her hands into her pockets and crossing her fingers, hoping that he'd have an answer.

"The bite of an alpha _can_ be used for more than just turning others into wolves." Deaton stated and Sydney knew that he wasn't going to give her anything more. She had maxed out her opportunities to ask questions.

"Thank you." Sydney nodded solemnly. "For everything."

"Anytime."

She knew that he wasn't lying; she knew that he meant it; she had just gained an ally, an important, wise ally at that.

Sydney wandered past him and made her way back to the front of the animal clinic. She glanced back and tossed Deaton a smile as he followed her lead, stepping around her to flip the lock on the door so that she could open it. Sydney slipped out into the crisp evening air and stepped away from the building.

Without another word shared between them, she made her way to her car not too far away and climbed in. She had one more thing to do before she went home and she was incredibly interested to test out Deaton's theory on alpha bites. It seemed that a trip to the sewer was in order.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_A look into Sydney's life. What did you guys think about her mother being an Alpha before she was born and her father being a bitten werewolf? Do you think that Sydney will follow in her mother's footsteps and become a decent leader or do you think she'll constantly be overshadowed by her willingness to stand by Peter?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: I agree with you, totally agree! Sydney's sort of put herself in a position where no one should really trust her because of Peter. Aw man, well, I hope that the future events will make you like Sydney a little more, she's not stupid, I'll just say that, she's just trying to figure things out before she makes a move. As for the bitch slap comment, who knows ;) Thanks so much for the review!_**

**__****_jeff1000: that is a very decent possibility. Thanks for the inspirational review!_**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW: Sydney doesn't kill people...usually haha. Maybe she'll learn to be civil to the girl because killing Malia would put drive a wedge between her and Stiles :) Thanks so much for the review!_**

**__****_LirealAion: As any sane woman would be to find out that their significant other is keeping things from them, Sydney is very displeased. As if she didn't have enough reasons not to trust him before, well she certainly does now. Malia and Sydney alone together, there's an interesting thought. Oh the deadpool...Sydney, at this point in time, is not on it but anyone who aligns with Peter Hale should be watching their backs. Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_SilverShadowWolf46: Sydney was thinking the same thing, there was nothing more she wanted than for her to give in to him! They had a difficult relationship but they love each other, maybe Peter will figure out that all Sydney really needs is him (just the way he is) and maybe one day he can prove to Sydney that she IS enough for him. Thanks so much for the review! _**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	23. Chapter 23

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 23****:**

Sydney wasn't too concerned with sneaking away from Deaton's. She didn't figure Peter would think much of it if she was longer than a couple of hours. She was a grown woman, she was allowed to go off on her own and if Peter had any qualms about where she was, well she'd have no problem telling him about the riveting conversation with Deaton about her mother.

Yes, that's exactly what she would do.

When she made it to Stiles' house though, she took a whiff of the air and made a mental note that Malia was somewhere nearby. She knew Stiles wasn't quite home yet, she had texted him before she slipped out the front door of the vet's office but he knew she was on her way to his house, he knew that she wanted to meet up with him and have a conversation.

She pulled her car over on the road in front of his house, leaving the driveway free for his jeep, and turned the vehicle off. Letting out a sigh, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen, not entirely sure what her plan was going to be. She knew she had to make a back-up plan; there was no way she'd turn on Scott or his pack any time soon and that's precisely what she was afraid of Peter doing.

He wanted to be an alpha and aside from Sydney, she wasn't aware of any other alphas nearby, at least none that he could take out without one hell of a fight.

Sydney leaned against her door and dropped her head against the glass. Why did Peter have to have some ulterior motive, why couldn't he just accept her for who she was and move on from the past? What business did he have trying to reel in Malia for his own personal gain without giving the girl some sort of family support?

With a low, feral growl, she sat up in her seat and ripped the keys out of the ignition. Popping the door open, she made her way to her feet, pulled herself out of the car and slammed the door shut once she was safely on the pavement. Sydney turned around and looked up at the Stilinski household. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on Malia's all too familiar scent.

"Stupid girl." Sydney muttered to herself and carefully opened her eyes. She turned her head to the end of the road and locked her eyes on Stiles' approaching jeep. With a deep breath in, she moved away from her car and closed in on the end of the driveway, hanging back just enough so that Stiles could pull in without concerning himself with hitting her.

Sydney moseyed on up the driveway and came to a stop beside the driver's side door. Stiles flashed her a wave and stumbled his way out of the jeep, nearly falling as he hopped down in front of her. She couldn't help but smile as he straightened up in front of her.

"Where's your dad tonight?" Sydney asked as she nodded her head at the driveway, which was clearly lacking a cruiser. Stiles glanced back at the vacant parking space and rolled his eyes at her.

"He's at work, busy trying to break some more cases." Stiles answered nonchalantly and raked his gaze over her body. Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and remained silent, not entirely sure if their conversation was awkward yet or not. The last that Sydney had spoken to Stiles, in regards to the supernatural, it had been via text message and it had been about Malia learning the truth behind her last name. Sydney wasn't about to bring it up and apparently neither was Stiles.

They stood in silence for a good thirty seconds before Stiles sucked in a breath and waved his hand in her direction. She took a step to the side and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, putting off speaking for as long as she possibly could. Sure she had wanted to talk to him but she knew there were a few things she didn't care to find out about.

"So…" She started and met his gaze.

"It's been a long time Syd, what have you uh, been up to?" Stiles questioned and she let out a low huff. Oh right, she hadn't exactly told Stiles why she had been missing in action for the better part of a week and it was kind of nice for him to ask that, it certainly showed her that he was concerned about her and that someone had noticed her absence.

"I was dealing with some personal stuff." Sydney answered lazily and shifted her fingers around her keys, which were still inside her jacket pocket. "Fair warning, the werecoyote is in your house."

"She has a name." Stiles countered but there was no conviction there, she knew he wasn't truly offended. Stiles seemed to understand slightly more than everyone else as to why Sydney was a little hesitant to give Malia the benefit of the doubt. He could easily tell that Sydney was slightly threatened by Malia's presence in not only Peter's life but Stiles' own life as well.

"Malia _Tate_." Sydney emphasized the girl's last name, adopted or not, she refused to acknowledge the girl as Peter's child, not until she absolutely had to.

"Right." Stiles nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to win this round; he gave in and motioned sporadically towards the house. "Want to come inside?"

"No, not if she's in there." Sydney shook her head and kicked at the driveway. She knew she sounded like toddler who didn't quite get her way but she didn't care. Malia was merely an obstacle in her way and once she was out of the way, Sydney could claim Peter and keep him all to herself. Was that so much to ask for?

"Okay, right, well uh, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I think I need you on my side." She confessed slowly, hesitantly. She wasn't entirely sure how to go about trying to form an alliance behind Peter's back but she knew that the best place to start was with Stiles. He'd listen to her, he'd hear her out and then he'd go to Scott. If she could get Stiles backing her up, then she'd have it made.

"I am, I've always been on your side." Stiles countered softly. "You're not alone in this Syd, whatever it is that you're dealing with, you don't have to go at it alone."

"Do you really mean that?" Her eyes widened at his admission and she locked her gaze onto his face. He lifted his hands up and ran them over his head, tangling his fingers in his hair, as he let out a long breath.

"If you're talking about going to war against Peter-"

"I don't know that I am though. I trust him enough to know that he's not going to do anything to me, he'd never hurt _me_ and that's not going to change."

"Then what's the issue?" Stiles pressed and dropped back, his butt landing against the side of his jeep. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her, waiting for her to say whatever it was that was on her mind.

"I don't trust him when it comes to Scott, or anyone else for that matter. He's not happy as a beta, you and I both know that and he's not going to kill me, which means that there's really only one-"

"Satomi." Stiles cut her off and Sydney furrowed her brows at the name.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She growled, frustration taking over her once calm demeanour. Sydney was starting to feel like everyone knew more than she did, and she wasn't going to accept that easily, which is why she needed a plan of her own.

"Satomi is a person, more specifically a werewolf. She's an alpha apparently, I don't know much more than that, that's just what I got from Derek and Peter when they were at Deaton's with me."

"You think Peter could take her out?" Sydney took a step forward and dropped her voice down low.

"Honestly, if we're playing the 'Peter Hale strategy game', he'd be better off going against Scott. From what I gather, this Satomi is pretty hard core and she's older, way older, like decades older."

"And Scott's new, inexperienced in comparison?" Sydney questioned but it was more for her own confirmation than anything. "I'd go after Scott too."

Stiles lifted his one hand away from his body and waved it in her direction, confirming what she already figured. In a situation where she'd have to choose to fight against an experienced alpha or a fairly fresh one, she'd pick the fresh one too. She'd have more experience, she could probably out maneuver the younger alpha more easily, it was practically a no-brainer.

"Are you going to let him Syd?" Stiles baited. He took in the slight tensing of her body, the way she seemed to almost flinch at the question. "If Peter goes after Scott, what are you going to do?"

"Honestly, I don't know Stiles. I love him, I do and there's not a lot that I wouldn't do for Peter. On the other hand, Scott doesn't deserve to die; he's probably one of the most genuine people I've ever met. It wouldn't be an easy choice for me Stiles, you have to see that."

"I do, don't get me wrong, I get how close to Peter you are."

"If he went after you though, hands down, I'd stand in front of you, I'd protect you." She admitted confidently and Stiles cocked his head at her. Had she really just confessed that she'd protect him if Peter Hale decided to target him? Was Sydney really that confident, she'd really stand up for Stiles rather than let Peter hurt him?

"Why?" Stiles blurted out because it was the only thing that crossed his mind at her admission.

"You're the only other person in my life that I trust." She murmured. "You're the only person who truly believes in me."

"Wow." He gaped. "Syd really?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"So that's why you're here then? You want me to talk to Scott about a contingency plan?"

"I want to know that I have options if Peter decides to turn on everyone."

"You think he'll do that? Turn on everyone? Not including you though, right?"

"No, I'm his long term plan. When it all comes down to it, being with me makes him more powerful. He's not going to give that up, especially if he thinks he has the type of control over me that he has over other people."

Stiles took in her words, he let them marinate in the back of his mind for a few seconds. She just looked at him, wondering how far Peter was really willing to go to get the type of power that he craved. Stiles let out a frustrated sigh and stared at her. Sydney brought out her alpha eyes, to let him know that she was, indeed, a powerful creature. He snorted at the bright red glow in her eyes and shook his head.

"So he thinks he has control over you?" Stiles asked and she blinked away her alpha red irises.

"He thinks I'm totally oblivious Stiles, he believes that I'm willing to follow him blindly without actually knowing what his plan is. You know what though, that's not what an alpha does, and that's not what _I_ do."

"What _are_ you going to do then?"

"Make my own moves, play my own game. He wants what he wants and _maybe_ I'll help him get it but as soon as he threatens you, he's got another thing coming." Sydney answered vaguely but Stiles merely looked at her, studying her firm expression. She was still stone cold serious, she'd go against Peter for him, she'd face up against the man she was romantically involved with in order to protect him. She was going to do what she believed needed to be done, _if_ it came down to it.

"What about Scott?" Stiles figured he was trying his luck but Sydney gave him a half-hearted shrug.

"He's a better person than Peter." Sydney stated without actually answering his question.

"So are you." Stiles said softly and moved to take a step towards her. She stepped away from him and shook her head.

"I don't know that I am." She murmured and turned her back to him.

Sydney began sauntering back towards her car, leaving Stiles in the driveway. He watched her go, watched her get closer and closer to her car and when she was standing beside the driver's side door, he let out a groan.

"Syd hang on!" He called out and she turned to look at him, a sadness etched on her face that he hadn't seen earlier. "You keep me in the loop on your end and I'll do what I can to keep you in the loop on my end. Scott doesn't want anyone else to die, frankly neither do I."

"Kate." Sydney nodded solemnly. "Kate's the only one on my list."

Without any more words exchanged between the two of them, Sydney took her hands out of her pockets, pulled the door open and hopped in. Stiles kept his eyes on her car, even as it started up and moved away from the curb. When she was halfway down the street, he turned his attention towards his house.

Stiles was going to do everything he could to keep Sydney safe and out of Peter's devious clutches.

She glanced in her rear-view mirror as she turned off of Stiles' road and nodded, yes Stiles had headed inside and he was no longer standing in the middle of the driveway. She hoped that he knew what he was going to do about Malia, the girl was clearly confused on who, or what, to believe. Sydney knew first-hand how manipulative Peter could be and she was merely a woman who had knocked on his door, the childhood best friend of his nephew. Malia was biologically related and she figured that he'd do everything in his power to get her to do what he wanted. She wasn't sure what it was that he was planning for her, or why he felt the need to search out her mother but Sydney was slowly forming her own plan.

She wasn't going to sit back and follow his lead, she was an alpha, and he was the one who was supposed to be following _her_ lead. Sydney was her own person, she wasn't going to take any more of his shit and the first step to getting her plan into action was to pay a visit to the sewers.

Sydney turned onto one of the nearby side streets and pulled her car over to the side of the road. She quickly made her way out of the car and tucked her keys into the front pocket of her jeans. Sydney jogged towards the manhole cover in the middle of the street and squatted down next to it, finagling her fingers into the holes and using her werewolf strength to lift the lid upwards.

Within seconds she had her entire body in the sewer and the lid back in place above her. Sydney took a deep breath and held it, squeezing her eyes shut as she contemplated her next move. There was no turning back once she got the berserkers in sight, at least not without them chasing her down, but at her current location and situation, she could easily turn around and make her way back out onto the road, back into her car, safely and in one piece.

Was it really worth the risk?

She opened her eyes and surged forward, her eyes, ears and nose tuned in to her surroundings.

Yes, it was definitely worth the risk.

It hadn't taken much to track down the berserkers at all; in fact it had been rather easy. They had been with Kate the night that Peter had led her into the sewer to make a deal with the former hunter and that's exactly where she had planned on finding them again. They didn't seem to stray far from the werejaguar and Sydney knew that's exactly where Kate was staying, in the dirty, gross sewers. Sydney had made sure to be extremely quiet and stealthy as she made her way through the narrow, confining walkways of the sewer in search of the oversized beasts.

It wasn't hard to pinpoint their exact location, they weren't quiet creatures and they weren't exactly small either. There were two of them when she rounded the corner, her back pressed against the dank metal wall, her eyes locked on the hulking figures covered in bones, animal or human, she wasn't entirely sure, nor did she care to find out. She took a deep breath and wondered what exactly she had gotten herself into.

On one hand, if her planned worked and her theory proved true, she'd be practically unbeatable when it came down to the wire. Having two beastly creatures that could bring almost anyone to their knees would be a definite advantage. On the other hand, Sydney wasn't entirely confident that she could pull this all off. She _had_ planned ahead though, she had mentally mapped out her quickest escape route, she had parked her car not more than ten feet away from the manhole cover and she was ready to run if things went south.

Sydney looked up at the ceiling and held her breath, praying that her plan would work. If Kate had managed to gain control of the berserkers, there had to be a way for Sydney to take away that control. She had come up with an idea on how she was going to do it, she was going to take Kate down but first she had to get rid of the protection that the berserkers provided.

Crouching down, Sydney pushed herself away from the wall and stepped into the middle of the walkway. She pushed her shoulders back, stood tall and confident, and moved forward with a saunter that even Kate Argent would be proud of.

"Hello boys." She purred and continued to move forward, the two berserkers turned their heads in Sydney's direction and looked at her, well looked at her as best as they could considering she wasn't entirely sure they had eyeballs beneath their bone covered faces.

Either way, they were clearly aware of her presence in the sewer, that much had been made clear but the low, deep rumbling that emanated from their bodies.

The berserkers let their arms hang at their sides, the sharp talons wavered and rattled against each other and Sydney fought off the urge to turn tail and run. She didn't have much to build a solid theory on, hell she was basing it on the sole fact that Kate had managed to find a way to control the hulking beasts and she was barely experienced at the supernatural way of life. Sydney was an alpha, a decent alpha at that, she could do _anything_ Kate Argent could do and she could do it better.

"Seems to me you're working with the devil. Now I don't know what she's giving you in return for helping her be the biggest bitch around but I can guarantee you that you deserve someone better, someone stronger, someone with a little more…spunk." Sydney drawled and flicked her wrists backwards, forcing her claws out.

She took in deep breaths and held them before letting them go, trying to keep herself calm. She stepped closer to the creatures and forced her red irises to come to surface. Their heads cocked to the side and they seemed to study her but not without letting out another low growl at her.

Without putting it off anymore, she rolled her shoulders back brought her canines out and lunged forward. A deep, guttural growl erupted from her throat and before either berserker could really react; she was running right at them, slinking down and dropping to her knees as she flung herself past them.

Sydney clambered to her feet and leapt up onto the back of the nearest berserker, sinking her claws into the soft flesh of the back of its neck. Her legs wrapped around its waist and she clung to the beast with every last ounce of strength. She forced her claws deeper into the berserker's body, feeling the tough skin breaking and the muscles underneath splintering.

The berserker in her grasp thrashed about under her claws but Sydney wasn't about to let go. She locked her ankles together around it and squeezed her thighs against the bones of the berserker, pushing her fingertips into the back of its neck further. She threw her head back, let out a feral growl and ducked her head down, biting into the side of the creature's neck.

The beast went rigid as her teeth sunk in and Sydney knew that something was about to happen. Either the berserker was going to realize that he was bigger than she was and rip her away from his body or he was going to submit to her, to let her take control.

She chomped down harder and tried to force back the gagging of her body at the bitter, fleshy taste of the ugly supernatural animal. When he let out a howl of what she could only assume was pain, she freed her claws from the back of its next and dropped her legs away from its waist. Slowly but surely, she relinquished her teeth from its flesh and shoved the creature forward.

Lifting her arm up, she swiped the back of her hand across her lips, wiping away the bitter tasting blood that had accumulated there from her bite. Her eyes met the creature's skull and she took pride in the fact that there was blood dripping down its body. It turned towards her and she planted her hands on her hips, flashing her alpha red eyes at it.

"What do you say boys, time for a change of ownership, don't you think?" Sydney purred and she tried to contain her excitement as the berserker, the one that she had attacked and sunk her teeth into, dropped down onto one knee and bowed its head, tucking the razor sharp talons against its chest.

Seconds later the second berserker followed suit and Sydney's lips pulled up into a grin. She had done it; she had taken control of the berserkers! The two creatures were currently bowing in front of her, as if to offer their services, to signify that they would do her bidding, that she was their master.

The two beasts continued to grumble in her direction but she could hear the difference between their current grumbles and the ferocious grumbles that she had heard seconds earlier.

"I'll see you two later." She smirked and sauntered towards them, heading down the sewer walkway in the same direction that she had come from. When she passed them, she ran her hand up the front of the animal skull, which doubled as their face, and gave each berserker a firm pat on the shoulder. "Don't forget to behave for dear old Kate until I come and get you."

The berserkers remained kneeling as Sydney kept walking. She hit the end of the hallway and glanced back, her eyes still red as she watched them stand up and turn to look at her as she walked away. Sydney rounded the corner and took off in a run, desperately trying to get away before her entire plan backfired.

She climbed out of the sewers when she hit the point of entry. With her feet on solid pavement and her car in sight, she let out a giant sigh of relief and ran her hands through her hair. Her nerves were wracked and when she pulled her hands away from her head to look at them, she took note that her limbs were shaking.

There wasn't a lot in the world that scared Sydney Vance but clinging to an unproven theory on how to take control of berserkers was one of those things. Now all she had to do was hope that they stayed under her control the next time she laid eyes on them.

Kate Argent was going to get what was coming and she was going to get it good.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Stiles and Sydney being ultimate bros once again! Don't you guys just love them as friends? Sydney telling him that she'd protect Stiles if Peter posed a threat to him, how badass, right? Now that Sydney's got control of the berserkers, do you think she'll be able to keep it or do you think she'll lose them? And how do you guys feel about Sydney's statement _**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_OutlawqueenFTW: Sydney's definitely starting to come into her own! How did you like her statement about standing up for Stiles if Peter went after him?_**

**_cecld16: How are you liking the story now that Sydney sort of voiced her mistrust for Peter? Do you think she's slowly starting to figure out that she's going to have to make a power move in order to keep Peter from hurting the people she cares about?_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	24. Chapter 24

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 24****:**

Sydney wasn't entirely sure what her next move was, she just knew that she should probably be getting to the apartment as soon as possible. Without actually calling or communicating with Peter about her current whereabouts, she was hoping that he cared enough about her to be slightly worried about how long she had been out for and that maybe once she walked inside the apartment, he'd be relieved to see that she was, indeed, alive and well.

A sigh escaped her lips as she drove down the road, her hands gripping the steering wheel lazily and her eyes scanning the scene in front of her. She had the windows rolled down a couple of inches and had been enjoying the crisp night air; at least she _had_ been enjoying the fresh air until the smell of smoke flooded her nostrils. Holding her breath and trying not to choke on the pungent odour, she slowed her car down and scanned her surroundings, looking for the source of the fire.

Hell, if something was on fire, maybe it had been set and maybe whoever had set the fire that she currently smelled was involved in the fire that had destroyed _her_ house. She spotted black smoke billowing into the air and put her blinker on, turning right towards the source of the smell. She squinted her eyes and could just barely make out a flame peeking out over the tops of the buildings in her line of sight. Well now she had a location and she knew where to go, which meant that she could drive faster.

Ramming her foot against the gas pedal, Sydney flew through the streets and headed for the fire. She felt her body being forced to the side as she took the corner slightly faster than she was comfortable with, but she had to get to the fire, she had to get to it to see if maybe someone had set it, someone like Kate Argent. If it was Kate, Sydney knew that she'd have a lot of explaining to do to Peter, who was striking up deals with the former hunter, much to Sydney's dismay. She didn't care at this point in time though, if she could catch Kate in the act of arson, there'd be no excuse the werejaguar could come up with that would stop her from ending Kate's life. She _would_ die and then Sydney would throw her body into the fire.

When the car pulled into the vacant parking lot, Sydney's eyes widened at the grotesque sight. She pressed her foot down harder and sped towards the burning deputy's cruiser, the flames rising up high into the night sky. Her body froze at the sounds of the pain filled screams and she gagged at the disgusting scent of charring flesh. She knew that this wasn't just an average, run of the mill fire, no this was much more than that, someone was alive inside the vehicle, someone was burning. This was an attempted murder, _this_ was a kill zone.

She pulled her car over a good twenty feet from the burning cruiser and jumped out, leaving the keys in the ignition and the car still running. Sydney took off in a run towards the flames and cringed. The familiar scent of Deputy Jordan Parrish filled her nostrils first and her eyes widened in panic. No, no he wasn't going to die, he couldn't be, why did he have to be the one inside?

"Hang on." She growled and moved her body forward, heading right for the car. Her ears were filled with his cries of pain and she wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do but she knew she had to help him; she had to get him out and get the fire away from him, right?

Sydney skidded to a halt next to the driver's side door where she could easily see the man in question thrashing about inside, his screams louder now that she was so close. She lifted her arm up, tucked her hand against her body and made a move to elbow the remaining glass of the driver's side window, which had been rolled down about halfway.

The glass shattered around the two of them and Sydney lifted her hand up, fanning it in front of her face in an attempt to get the smoke out of her eyes. She sucked in a breath, held it and went to work, reaching inside and grabbing for his arm.

The smell of burning was overwhelming and Sydney felt her eyes filling with water. Her vision blurred but she wasn't going to give up. This man had been there for her, on more than one occasion, and she wasn't going to just let him die, especially not while she was standing right next to him.

She took hold of his wrist and flinched at the heat radiating off his burning skin. She tugged, trying to get him to let go of the wheel but something was stopping him from doing so. Sydney raised her hand up and rubbed her eyes with the back of her wrists, trying to get the smoke to dissipate long enough for her to get a clear view of what she was dealing with.

Once she had a clearer vision, she glanced down at his hands and let out a groan. Of course, why would it have been that simple? Someone had zip tied his hands to the steering wheel, well, okay, now she at least knew what she had to do.

Sydney slipped her fingers away from his skin and grabbed hold of the hot plastic, which was softer than she anticipated from the fire. She pulled with everything she had and watched as the zip tie broke in her hold. She went to work on the second one and before she knew it, his hands were free. Sydney let go of him completely and stumbled backwards, a few steps away from the cruiser.

Deputy Parrish had stopped screaming and was now working on getting the door unlocked and open. Sydney dashed forward and grabbed hold of the outside door handle, pulling it out and yanking, hard, on the door, desperate to free him from his oven-like prison. Between the two of them working at it, the door flew open and Sydney stumbled backwards, landing on her butt a good five feet away from the burning cruiser. She trailed her eyes up his body as he stepped out of the burning vehicle.

Jordan Parrish was covered in ash, there were a few char marks on his skin, but other than that he was completely naked, his clothes had been burned away to nothing. Her eyes widened at her realization and she clambered to her feet, standing in front of him with a look of awe etched on her face and not because his was well endowed, much like the sheriff had tried to imply the last time she had seen him.

His head turned slightly and his eyes landed on her, studying her figure. Slowly, hesitantly, Sydney stepped forward, her gaze never leaving his. She threw her arms around him and buried her face into his chest, hanging on to him with everything she had. He wasn't dead; he wasn't even injured as far as she could tell. He was alive! She didn't have to watch another person she cared about die.

Parrish's arms cautiously came up and around her, holding her against him as she let out a giant sigh of relief. Glancing down at her, Sydney leaned her head back and forced a smile up at him, her eyes still filled with water from the smoke irritation. He brought his hand up and ran his thumb underneath her eye, trying to brush the tears away.

"You're okay." She murmured and let out a nervous bark of laughter. His lips turned upwards into a small smile and he ran his hand through her hair, brushing it back and out of her face.

"Let's use the term alive." He countered and felt her hug him tighter, once again burying her face against his charred chest.

"You're alive." She breathed in deeply and just took in the feeling of him in her arms. He smelled like burnt food, his skin was desperately hot, but she didn't care, nothing mattered so long as he was breathing.

"Someone tried to kill me." Parrish pointed out and ran his hands up and down Sydney's leather clad back. She reluctantly relinquished her hold on him and took a step back, slowly peeling her body away from his. His hand grasped her wrist and he held on to her hand tightly, not wanting to let go just yet.

"You're on the list." Sydney stated and shied away from his gaze.

"You know about the list?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I knew you were on it."

"Then how come you didn't try to kill me yourself, five million is a lot of money." Parrish teased and she closed the distance between them once again, hugging him against her.

"You owe me coffee." She shot back and let out a pathetic laugh.

"Maybe I should find some clothes before we do that."

Sydney hesitated but she pulled away one more time, motioning towards her car. She glanced behind him and took in the sight of the flames still enveloping his cruiser. There was no way he was going to be able to drive it ever again, in fact, she was quite curious as to how he had survived being set on fire. Sure he was a supernatural creature but fire was a decent offense. Peter had nearly died from being set on fire, most of the Hale family had been decimated in the house fire, fire tended to succeed in killing supernatural creatures, at least as far as Sydney was concerned. She was left to wonder what exactly he was, especially if he was still in one piece after being burned alive.

"Did you want me to take you somewhere, maybe the hospital?" She offered and slipped her hand into his, turning around to face her own car and tugging gently on his arm, signaling for him to follow her.

"I don't need a hospital, but I'd appreciate it if you could give me a ride to the station."

"Right, yes, we should report this." Sydney nodded, catching onto what he was implying. "This is a crime, someone tried to kill you-"

"Haigh." Parrish cut her off. "Deputy Haigh knocked me out, zip-tied my wrists to the steering wheel, doused the vehicle and myself in gasoline, and lit me on fire. He's supposed to be at the station and he's going to pay."

"Oooh, okay, yes, well, that works too. Let's go kick some Deputy Haigh butt then." She shrugged and felt him tug on her arm. He slipped his hand out of her grasp and banded it around her back, turning to face her head on as he stopped walking, Sydney freezing in her movements.

She looked up into his bright green eyes and forced a smile. She could feel her heart pounding now and she prayed that he wasn't going to do anything that would get her in trouble with Peter later on. His hand moved out towards her and she flinched as he brushed her hair away from her face, yet again. She fought off the urge to bring her fiery red alpha eyes out and instead squeezed them shut, anticipating his next move.

"Thank you." He murmured and leaned forward, his warm, soft lips pressing against her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes and watched as he backed away from her, making his way to her car. She watched him, in all his naked glory, as he approached her vehicle and climbed into the passenger side. She shook her head and couldn't help but smile as he stared at her as if to say 'what are you waiting for'.

Without another second of hesitation, Sydney headed for the car and hopped into the driver's side. She glanced over at him and drew her bottom lip in between her teeth. Before she shut the door though, she paused and peeled her jacket off before handing it to him.

"Not that I don't enjoy the male anatomy and all but I'd be able to focus a lot better if you covered up." She remarked, her tone sounding more confident than she felt.

"Right." He smirked over at her and took the jacket, carefully draping it over his lower body. When she was satisfied that he was sufficiently covered, she snuck one last peek at his abdomen, nodded her approval at the sculpted muscles there and finally shut her door.

She made a mental promise to call Peter as soon as she got to the station, surely he'd have to be getting worried by now.

**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**

Sydney hadn't really said a word to Jordan Parrish the entire time she had been driving to the sheriff's station. If she was honest, she wasn't entirely sure what to say to him, not after helping him out of a blossoming of flames with his body still intact.

That had thrown her off completely. People who were burned alive generally came out of it with horrific injuries, charred, melted, burned flesh that looked more like dried candle wax as opposed to silky, smooth skin and they definitely didn't move as swiftly as he did either. When she had hugged him, she expected him to feel stiff and sore but he made no indication that he was either of those things, in fact, if she had jumped on him, she had no doubt in her mind that he would have caught her with ease.

There was something off about Deputy Jordan Parrish.

She turned her car into the parking lot attached to the sheriff's station and put the gear shift in park. Jordan glanced over at her as she let out a giant sigh, his hand moving towards her and coming to rest on her forearm.

"I'm sorry." He said softly and she turned to face him, a confused expression on her face.

"For what exactly?" She questioned, clueless as to what he had to be sorry for. It's not like he had purposely gone out and gotten himself lit on fire. She had come to his rescue and she would have done the same for anyone, although she figured anyone else would have been a lot worse for wear after being pulled out of a bonfire inside of a police cruiser.

"That you had to see that?" Jordan quirked his head to the side and smiled at her, one of his incredibly charming smiles. "Or that my bare ass is now imprinted on the front seat of your car?"

"Oh, no, that's…not your fault; none of it was your fault. I can clean my car up, it's no big deal."

"Well then can I just say thank you?"

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and dropped her hands away from the steering wheel. She shifted in the seat and moved her arm away from his palm. Jordan tucked his own hands against his body and grabbed hold of the leather jacket covering his bottom half.

"I didn't know it was you when I got there, I would have helped anyone, you know that right?" She countered. She would have too, it didn't matter who was in the car, either way, she wasn't going to let someone go out that way, not if she could help them.

"It's still appreciated." He nodded.

"Fair enough." She nodded right back. "Anyways-"

"You not coming in?" He cut her off and looked at her, a hopeful gaze in his eyes. "Maybe you can explain to me why my name is on some dead pool?"

"I guess I can come in, just, give me a minute, I have to make a phone call." Sydney compromised. "I'll catch up."

"Okay." He looked at her skeptically but grabbed the door handle and tugged on it, freeing the door from the hitch.

Sydney watched in awe as he stepped out of the car and let her jacket slip away from his bare body. He took hold of the collar of her leather jacket and swiftly put it back in the car, setting it on the vacant seat that he had been occupying seconds earlier. Parrish gave her one last thankful smile and gently shut the door. She flashed him a small wave and shook her head as he strode towards the front entrance to the sheriff's station.

Digging into the front pocket on her jeans, Sydney grabbed hold of her phone and raised it up in front of her face. She had a few text messages, all from Stiles, and no missed calls. Without putting it off anymore, she dialed Peter's number and held the phone against her ear, listening as it rang.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting when he picked up, maybe that he'd be irate that she was still out and about, maybe him worried sick about her or maybe that he'd be unconcerned with her whereabouts. When his voice finally came on the line, she wasn't sure what he was feeling towards her but he didn't sound angry, or worried for that matter.

"Sydney?" He questioned.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Are you okay?" Peter asked and she let out a small chuckle. There it was, there's exactly what she was hoping for. Okay so maybe he wasn't overly concerned with her whereabouts; at the very least he was cautious, he wanted to make sure she was okay.

"I'm fine." She sighed. "I was just calling to check in."

"Check in? Are you not on your way home?"

"I will be, shortly, I just have one last thing to take care of."

"Where are you?" Peter's voice wasn't giving much away, which was good and bad. She knew he wasn't angry but at the same time, she was starting to feel guilty that she wasn't already back at the apartment with him. When she had left the vault, she had said that she was going to talk to Deaton, to thank the vet for the drugs, that was a few hours ago, surely Peter had been expecting her home by now.

"I'm at the sheriff's station."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, no, it's fine, everything's good, I just had to drop one of the deputies off." Sydney answered. "He was on the dead pool, someone tried to light him on fire."

"Someone tried to light a deputy on fire?"

"Okay, well, I guess technically they succeeded, I mean he _was_ on fire so there's that but he's still alive." Sydney carried on. "I smelled the smoke."

Peter fell silent but she heard him let out a breath of air. There was clearly more to the story but she wasn't about to get into it, not over the phone anyways. She just wanted to get the night over with, hopefully without any more incidents.

"As long as you're okay…" Peter trailed off.

"Shaken up." She murmured. "I miss you."

It was true too, she had missed him. When she had pulled into the parking lot and had witnessed the giant flames licking at the cruiser, she couldn't help but recall the night her house had gone up in flames, which then led her to the memories of the Hale house fire. If anything ever happened to Peter, as much as she figured he deserved his comeuppance, she knew that she'd be heartbroken. As big of a manipulative son of a bitch as Peter was, she loved him; she wanted to be with him.

"I assure you that the feeling is mutual."

"Yeah." She huffed but found her lips pulling up into a smile. "I'm going to see if I can get my hands on an actual physical copy of the dead pool okay, I promise I'll be home as soon as I can."

"I'll wait up."

"Love you."

"See you soon Sydney."

Sydney pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen for a few seconds before hitting the end call button. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and pulled the keys out of the ignition, pocketing them as well. Stepping out of the car, she slammed the door shut and made her way to the front door of the sheriff's station.

She pulled the glass doors open and caught the end of a scuffle, Parrish stepping away from a fallen deputy and backing up against the wall. She crossed the room and moved to stand in front of him, glancing down at the sheriff who was sitting on the floor in the doorway to his office. She took a deep inhale and cringed at the scent of blood.

"What happened?" She questioned, looking at the fallen sheriff. Stiles' dad twisted on the floor and made his way to his feet, letting out a hiss of pain as he did so. Her eyes locked on his wounded shoulder and her eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?"

"It's a flesh wound." The sheriff replied back and moved closer to her. She immediately closed the distance between them and gently took hold of his hand, drawing out as much of his pain as she could. Stiles moved to stand next to his dad and he looked at Sydney with wide eyes.

"You're going to the hospital." Sydney growled.

"Okay and what do you suggest we do with Parrish over there?" Stiles piped up, waving a hand at the ash covered deputy. "What the hell happened to him?"

Sydney let go of the sheriff's hand and stepped back, studying the two Stilinskis as they stood side by side now, both of them waiting for an answer.

"Long story short, that guy," Sydney paused and pointed her thumb in the direction of the fallen Deputy, "lit Parrish here on fire."

"And you just happened to be there?" Lydia, who Sydney hadn't exactly noticed before, spoke up. She looked at Sydney as though she wasn't entirely sure what to think. On one hand, Stiles seemed to trust Sydney and so did the sheriff, but Lydia knew that she was aligned with Peter Hale; even after everything he had put her though.

"I smelled the smoke okay." Sydney shot back. "I get a little antsy when I smell it because someone lit my old house on fire not too long ago."

Lydia bit down on her tongue in an effort to keep quiet and Sydney rolled her eyes. As if she needed to explain anything to Lydia, especially when she had been the one to help Parrish out of the bon fire inside the deputy cruiser.

"What is he?" Sheriff Stilinski broke in and Sydney turned to look at the soot covered deputy.

"I don't know, I think maybe we should take him to Derek." Sydney suggested.

"But my dad's been shot." Stiles pointed out. "I think maybe-"

"Right, ugh, fuck. Okay, here's what's going to happen then, you take your dad to the hospital, Parrish go home and get yourself cleaned up and then meet me and Lydia at the loft, I'll text you with the address. How's that work?" Sydney cut him off and threw out the commands. She looked around the room and took note that everyone was looking at her now. Was this what it felt like to be in control? Was this what a good alpha acted like?

"That works." Lydia forced the words out and no one else seemed to have any objections either. Sydney planted her hands on her hips, spun around and locked her gaze on Deputy Parrish, who was still very, very naked.

"Hang on a second, you guys wouldn't happen to have an actual copy of the dead pool, would you?" Sydney questioned quickly and looked back over between Stiles and Lydia.

Stiles shoved his hand into the back pocket on his jeans and produced a folded mess of papers. The list in his hold was scrunched up and clearly worn, well looked at and Sydney almost felt bad for asking for it. She figured though, that out of anyone in the room, Stiles would be the one who would be able to get another copy, if he didn't have another one hanging around already.

"Here." Stiles took a step forward and Sydney took hold of the list, curling her fingers around it tightly and taking hold of it. Nodding her appreciation, she turned around and locked her eyes on Parrish.

"We're going to get you to Derek; he'll maybe know what you are."

"What do you mean 'what I am'?" Parrish countered.

"It's a long story, just meet me at the loft after you've cleaned up, I've got to make a pit stop at home."

"What are you talking about?" Parrish argued.

"I'll explain everything to you later, just please go have a shower and put some clothes on. You're kind of a _big_ distraction." She smirked.

Sydney turned around and waved at the sheriff as well as Stiles and Lydia. She quickly closed the distance between Stiles and herself, giving him a quick hug before taking the sheriff's hand in hers once more. The sheriff looked down at her arm and watched in awe as her veins turned black, the pain in his own shoulder lessening as she drew it out.

"Vance, be careful." The sheriff warned in a low tone.

"Always." She nodded back. "You call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay."

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Parrish and Sydney! Don't you guys just love their friendship!? How did you guys like her taking charge at the station? _**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Thank you for the review! Poor Sydney, if she's already starting to not trust Peter now, just wait until she really starts to see how power hungry he really is! I'm so glad that you like her a bit more, hey, how do you feel about her and Parrish as buddies?_**

**_OutlawqueenFTW: Who wouldn't save Stiles, he's like her only real friend at this point, aside from Derek and now Parrish (but they can both handle themselves pretty well don't you think?) Aw no don't be nervous! _**

**_SilverShadowWolf46: Who wouldn't want to be in control of the berserkers right? They're such a huge advantage to have! Thanks so much for the review!_**

**_LirealAion: Haha, move over Scott for sure! Sydney's a pretty daring girl, hey if her 'take control of the berserker' plan didn't pan out, well she would've had a pretty decent shot at running away. Sydney's definitely starting to feel torn between who she loves in a romantic sense and who she cares for as a friend. I'm so glad that you loved the chapter! Thank you so much for your amazing review!_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	25. Chapter 25

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 25****:**

Peter hadn't been terribly concerned when Sydney had said that she wanted to go thank Deaton for the drugs, if he was honest, which he rarely was and more often than not only with Sydney, he was thankful that Deaton had been so helpful when he had shown up and requested tranquilizers. That had been hours ago though and while Peter was well aware that Sydney could take care of herself, he also knew that she had a tendency to make rash decisions, which often ended in her getting injured, especially when it came to helping Stiles.

He knew that she wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of Malia being a part of his life and she was clearly irritated that he was seeking out the Desert Wolf, who was potentially the mother of his child, but what other choice did he have?

Yes Sydney had said that he could just leave the girl alone and live out his life without having anything to do with the werecoyote but that wasn't something he was comfortable with. He wasn't seeking out a relationship, not in the fuzzy family feelings sense but he definitely wanted the young girl on his side, or at least to the point where it wouldn't take much for her to join him if he found himself needing all the power and control he could get.

Sydney was an alpha, his alpha, and he was lucky enough to be mated to her, but she was also stubborn and she quite often refused to relinquish control. Peter figured he had it coming though. Most of their relationship up until the point where they became mated had been him trying to pull off some elaborate plan; he hadn't intended to fall in love with Sydney Vance.

Yet that's exactly what had happened. She had put up with him, she had taken him for what he was and she never once tried to change him. She spoke her mind, she wasn't gentle and to get her to submit, well that was a chore in itself. Maybe he liked that about her, maybe in his eyes, she was his perfect match.

Peter understood why she was angry at him now, especially when it came to Malia and her mother. Sydney never had to share with anyone, she had always been her own person and now she was mated to him, which meant that she had to consider another person's feelings and Peter was that other person.

She had made a few good arguments though. Why did he really need to get involved in Malia's life when he had Sydney? For one it was about control, control over someone else. Peter wasn't stupid, he wasn't blind, he could see that Sydney wasn't exactly following him willingly like she once had and, not that it was a bad thing, she definitely wasn't treating him like the man who called the shots. She was young still, curious and her alpha status had yet to really be tested.

Sometimes he longed for the days, like in the beginning, where she'd merely curl up against him and provide him with a warmth that he hadn't felt since Eden had passed away. Watching Batman and the Looney Toons had been quite enjoyable and as juvenile as the cartoons seemed, he wouldn't give up that time spent with her for anything.

So maybe he was giving her a little leeway now, maybe he was letting her get away with spending more time away from him but after the whole nogitsune possession, maybe she deserved time to herself. At the very least he could commend her for having the decency to check in with him, like when she had called him from Mexico, or more recently the call he had received not too long ago where she had explained that she had saved someone who had been lit on fire. Now that was something he definitely wanted to know more about.

Peter strode across the apartment and cautiously dropped down onto one of the stools at the island. He glanced at the book residing there and pulled the cover open, scanning the index for ideas. He knew he was going to have to figure out what the hell this Deputy Parrish really was, he had been suspicions the second he had laid eyes on the man in question at the scene of the crime, the day after Sydney's house and gone up in flames.

Without much to go on though, Peter could only theorize what he might be.

When the door to the apartment swung open, he tore his eyes away from the book and glanced at Sydney, who was walking with an air of confidence that he had only seen a few times since she showed up at his door, soaking wet. Now there was another good memory, he wouldn't say anything out loud but when she had shown up on his doorstep sopping wet, he knew that he had to have her.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was soft and laced with curiosity. Sydney flipped her boots off, leaving them at the front door, and tossed her leather jacket, which had been draped over her arm, at the couch. She flipped the dead bolt on the door and made her way towards him, taking a seat at the vacant stool next to his.

He smiled at her and watched as her elbow came to rest on the surface of the island. She dropped her chin into her palm and leaned forward, stretching her back out slightly. Peter chuckled at the sound of cracking bones and she let out a soft sigh.

"I'm researching." Peter answered with a knowing smirk. She scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion and straightened up, removing her hand from her chin and her elbow from the island.

"What are you researching?" She pressed, turning towards him and extending her leg out, running her toes up his shin.

"I'm trying to find out what kind of supernatural creature can survive being lit on fire." Peter replied and she scoffed at him.

"He's probably some phoenix or something."

"What makes you say that?"

"I read Harry Potter okay, I know all about those stupid bird things and plus I saw the movies too, stupid phoenix combusted and was 'born again from the ashes' or something like that." She explained. "I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to the supernatural."

"I never said you were."

"Sure. To be fair though, there weren't any werecoyotes or werejaguars in Harry Potter."

"So you're basing all of your knowledge of the supernatural on a fictional book about wizards?" Peter cocked his head to the side and she let out a grunt of frustration.

"We didn't all get to grow up with our werewolf family members, which reminds me; Deaton told me some interesting things about my parents."

"You're deflecting the conversation away from the deputy who was lit on fire."

"Parrish, Jordan Parrish, he's on the dead pool." Sydney explained and reached into her pocket, pulling out the list in question. She set the dead pool on the island in between them and let out a sigh.

"You've got yourself a hit list." Peter remarked with a smirk.

"Yes and Parrish is apparently worth five million." Sydney droned on, as though the information was nothing too important.

"Intriguing."

"What's intriguing is that your name is _not_ on the list."

"Neither is yours." Peter pointed out.

"Should I be thanking you or is there some higher power-"

"Don't worry about it Sydney, the important thing is that your name is _not_ on the list and therefore you don't have a price on your head." Peter cut her off and explained why she shouldn't really be concerned. If she was completely honest, she _was_ thankful that her name wasn't on the list but she more curious as to why that was. What was so special about her and Peter that their names weren't on the dead pool?

Sydney noticed the fierce look in his eyes and pushed the questions to the back of her mind. She wasn't about to push her luck, not when she still had to inform Peter that she was going back out and the reason for her going back out was to help out her new buddy Deputy Jordan Parrish, who was young, attractive and clearly interested in Sydney.

"I have to go to the loft." Sydney sighed, better to just get it over with, to treat it like a Band-Aid and rip it off quickly.

"When?"

"Um, like, tonight." She shrugged.

"What for?"

"I told Parrish that I'd meet him there. We're going to see if Derek knows what he is, or at the very least, maybe Derek can help him." Sydney answered, leaving out the part about Lydia being there, not to mention, before she had left the sheriff's station, Stiles had called Scott and told the true alpha to meet them at the loft too. Yes, there were a few things that Peter didn't need to know.

"Maybe he can help us." Peter purred and leaned forward, slipping his hand over her shoulder and tangling his fingers in her hair. He gave a gentle tug and she tilted her head back, a moan escaping her throat as he closed the distance between them and pressed a kiss to the delicate skin on her neck. She shivered as he grazed his teeth over her skin and Peter slowly backed away, his hand remaining in her hair.

"I know that I wouldn't mind having a guy who can survive being set on fire on my team." Sydney countered but she had deliberately used the term 'my team', not 'our team'. She didn't trust Peter, not when he was working with Kate and it didn't take much for Sydney to realize that he had been near the former hunter while she had been off on her own. There was a lingering scent of sewer in the apartment, which was fresh, not to mention she could just barely smell Kate when she sat down next to him.

"Just make sure you don't wind up getting yourself hurt."

"I won't." She smiled and set her palms on his thighs, running her fingers over the material of his jeans. "Not until I get back home anyways. You know I like it rough."

"I certainly do." Peter nodded and reluctantly untangled his fingers from her hair, moving his palm so that it was on her hip. She stepped down off the stool and closed the distance between them, standing between his knees now. His forehead gently fell against hers and his gaze lingered on her luscious lips.

"I want you." She murmured and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him against her. Peter simply smirked at her but didn't move a muscle. He didn't make a move to kiss her, his hands didn't graze her body, he just remained still, staring into her eyes.

"Don't come home smelling like anyone and we won't have any issues." Peter purred, tensing slightly as she pressed her chest against his.

"I _only_ want you." She whispered, tilting her head to the side and moving her chin forward, pressing her lips against his. Seconds later, she pulled away and looked into his glowing blue eyes.

Even if she didn't trust him, she still loved him; she knew that he wasn't going to hurt her, not on purpose. It wasn't really herself that she was worried about though, she knew that Peter had other plans, plans even she didn't know about, why else did he need Kate? Sydney knew it was because she didn't mind getting blood on her hands, Kate was ruthless, she'd do whatever she could in order to get ahead, which is why Sydney needed her dead, well that and the hunter had burned down her house, attacked her friends and threatened her relationship. Yes, there were many reasons why Kate Argent needed to die.

"And you're the only one for me." Peter whispered back, his fingers biting into her hips now.

"Good." Sydney cooed. "I'd hate to have to stake my claim on you, _again_."

"You say that like I wouldn't enjoy it."

"When I get back, I want you to come to bed with me and I want you to bite me in the most intimate place you can think of." Sydney stated, confidence in her tone.

"Are you demanding that as my alpha or suggesting that as my mate?"

Sydney cocked her head to the side and smirked at him, "I'm saying that as a woman who wants to experience her lover in the best way possible."

"That, I can accept." Peter smirked right back at her.

Sydney's eyes flitted down to his lips but Peter quickly moved away from her, turning his attention back to the book. She didn't grumble, she didn't put up a fuss; instead, Sydney pressed a kiss to his shoulder and stepped away from him, disappearing into the bedroom.

Minutes later she sauntered back out with a clean pair of jeans adorning her legs and one of his t-shirts covering her top half. The sleeves were rolled up and the hem was tucked into the front of her jeans, Peter's eyes racked her body as she moved towards the front door.

As soon as she was out of the apartment, he let out a breath he hadn't intended to hold and shook his head. He was absolutely smitten, there wasn't too many things in the world that he would put in front of Sydney, now all he had to do was prove it to her.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney was the last one to show up at the loft and when she wandered in through the oversized door, she was met with silence, absolute silence. It was as though the people inside didn't have any idea what to say or even where to start.

Without putting it off any longer, she closed the door behind her and walked further into the loft, her boots thudding against the hard floor was the only noise in the room. She looked at Derek, who gave her a nod of acknowledgement but nothing more. She wasn't going to complain, she'd take what she could get, especially from Derek, the nephew of the uncle she was currently working with and she knew that Derek wasn't particularly happy with Peter's current position.

Sydney took her stance next to Parrish, who was decked out in a fresh t-shirt and a form fitting pair of jeans. She wasn't about to comment out loud but boy did the deputy know how to clean up. In addition to his clothes, she also noticed that his skin, which had been blackened and charred the last time she saw him, was smooth, flawless and clean. Whatever he was, he certainly recovered quickly from being set on fire and left for dead.

"What's going on here?" Parrish asked, his voice a hushed whisper and it was directed only to Sydney. She knew that the wolves in the room could easily hear him, something that he didn't know. Sydney gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder and looked around at the occupants of the room. Lydia gave her a barely noticeable stink eye, Scott just stared at her without any hint of emotion and Derek was waiting for everything to come out.

"Do you trust me?" Sydney countered.

"Do I have a choice?" Parrish shot back and Sydney snorted at his response. Yes, that was the perfect response to her question. He not only implied that he didn't really trust her but he suggested that maybe he was starting to realize that she was one of the only people who could potentially help him.

Derek took this as his cue and stepped forward, nodding at Deputy Jordan Parrish. Sydney reached down and grabbed his hands, lifting them up and handing them to Derek, who took them in his hold and studied them.

"He covered you in gasoline?" Derek questioned, Lydia now standing between Derek and Parrish while Sydney hovered around behind the deputy.

"It's the hair and nails, isn't it? The parts of the body that are essentially dead." Lydia pointed out matter-of-factly and Sydney bit back a growl. She vowed that she was going to remain civil with Lydia Martin, so long as the strawberry blonde didn't try anything funny.

"Well, they should be gone." Derek replied and Jordan lifted his hands up, pressing his fingers against his chest.

"I was set on fire; all of me should be gone." Jordan cut in and Sydney leaned against him, moving her hand down to take hold of his. She intertwined her fingers with his and held on, attempting to draw out any residual pain. When her veins refused to turn black, she loosened her grip on him and studied the side of his face. He was clearly in wonder of what had really happened and Sydney couldn't exactly blame him. He had essentially been burned to death, except, well, he hadn't actually died.

"Not if you're like us." Scott offered up in a vague attempt to answer some of Jordan's questions.

"Like you?" Parrish directed his attention towards Scott but Sydney dropped her forehead down, resting in on his shoulder.

"All of us." Sydney murmured and she didn't have to look up to know that his gaze was locked on her form now.

"I don't think he's like us." Derek shook his head. No there was clearly something different about Jordan Parrish. Sydney had already concluded that he wasn't a werewolf and now she was finding herself wondering if she should share her theory on what she thought he was. Did phoenixes exist? If so, was it really possible that the man standing next to her had the potential to be one?

"Then what is he?" Lydia questioned.

"Sorry, but I have no idea." Derek answered and settled his gaze on Sydney, as though he was silently accusing her of knowing more than she let on. Okay, she had to give it to Derek though, if he was smart enough to give Sydney a questioning glance, it was clearly because she was mated to his uncle, who most definitely seemed to know more than he let on, _always_.

"But you knew about Jackson and Kira." Scott pointed out in a desperate attempt to get Derek to think harder, maybe there was some long forgotten information that he had hidden in the deep recesses of his mind.

"Someone who can survive being _set on fire_ is slightly more advanced than what Derek knows." Sydney piped up. She knew that he was familiar with a lot of supernatural creatures, of course he was, he had grown up with Talia to guide him. There was a point though where all of his knowledge was based on actual evidence and if Peter didn't know what Parrish was, well there was no way that Derek would know either.

"This is a little out of my experience." Derek stated, agreeing with Sydney. "There might be something in the bestiary, did you try Argent?"

"I don't know where he is." Scott replied nonchalantly. Okay well that was a valuable piece of information. Scott didn't know where his hunter ally was, did that mean that Chris was keeping secrets, or maybe it meant that he was out searching for Kate in a dire attempt to capture her. Sydney didn't figure that he'd be able to kill his own sister, even if she was a murdering supernatural psychopath.

If he found Kate though, and did somehow manage to wrangle her into some place where he could keep her, did that mean that Sydney would lose her chance at ending the bitch's life? Making a mental note to look into Chris Argent's secure supernatural holding places, Sydney focused her attention back on the conversation at hand.

"Don't you have a bestiary of your own?" Sydney muttered and felt Parrish's grip on her hand tighten. He was clearly out of his element and she didn't entirely blame him. She'd be extremely nervous if she was in his position, especially after someone had tried to light her on fire.

"Peter." Derek mumbled back in Sydney's direction and she nodded her understanding. Right, yes, of course, if anyone had access to the Hale bestiary, it would be Peter and Peter alone. Well hey, maybe he'd be willing to share his own knowledge with her, then again, he hadn't really said much about Parrish when she had stopped in at the apartment, maybe he didn't know much about what the deputy could possibly be either.

"Okay, hold on. What's a bestiary? Actually, that's not even my first question, just…just tell me one thing, are all of you like Lydia? Are you all psychic?" Parrish questioned and glanced around the room at each and every person.

Sydney let out a snort at his summary of Lydia. Psychic, it wasn't a total shot in the dark, she _could_ predict some things but from her limited understanding of banshees, it wasn't much more than who was going to die. Parrish settled his gaze on Sydney, who peeled herself away from his body but left her hand holding his.

"Sorry." Sydney mumbled and pressed her lips together, trying to keep herself together. It was adorable really, Jordan was clueless and she couldn't help but look at him with awe. Oh how nice it would be to know nothing, to remain innocent, yes Jordan Parrish was almost lucky in that sense.

"Psychic?" Derek baited and raised his eyebrows. This was clearly new to him. Apparently he figured that every supernatural creature was supposed to know that Lydia wasn't just psychic but that she was a banshee.

"Yeah."

"Not exactly." Scott rocked his head from side to side.

"Okay, then what are you?" Parrish continued to look directly at Scott and Sydney felt the excitement taking over her body. She loved when Scott shifted, hell she loved it when anyone shifted and she had fully expected him to bring out his wolf. When she looked at him a few seconds later, the only werewolfy thing that Scott had done was to bring out his alpha eyes, his vibrant red alpha eyes.

It had been a long time since Sydney had seen a pair of red eyes, aside from her own. Peter's had been the last and even then she hadn't had the chance to witness the colour change of his irises as he sacrificed his alpha spark to save her from certain death. No, she hadn't seen Peter's red eyes in a long time, not that his vibrant blue ones made him any less of a man, not in the slightest. She still loved him, it didn't matter to her what colour his eyes were.

"Red eyes?" Parrish cocked his head to the side and Scott nodded his head yes. "What's that mean?"

"He's an alpha." Sydney blurted out before anyone could stop her. She wasn't entirely sure if they had wanted to keep that type of information a secret but it was too late now. She had said what they were all thinking and now Parrish was looking at her like she was a god. The sparkle in his eye was unmistakable and suddenly she knew that he was aware of how deep everything really went.

She wasn't just a girl; the fire that had taken her house didn't happen by accident, no, he knew that she was involved in the supernatural side of things. He continued to stare at her, waiting for her to go on.

"Werewolf." Derek broke in and Jordan's gaze flitted away from Sydney, but not for too long. Seconds passed and he slowly turned to face her once again.

"Scott's a werewolf?" He asked, a skeptical tone to his voice.

"And me." Derek lifted his hand like he was volunteering a simple, understandable fact.

"And you?" Parrish inquired, leaning slightly forward and studying Sydney's face. She seized her opportunity and brought out her vibrant blue werewolf eyes, staring at him and watching as he cautiously lifted his palm up, moving it towards her face. Lydia cleared her throat and Parrish dropped his hand back down to his side, Sydney jerking her head to the side to glare at Lydia.

"Blue eyes." Lydia remarked. "You remind me so much of Jackson."

"Who's Jackson?" Jordan looked between the two girls.

"I think the better question is 'what's Jackson'." Sydney replied. "He was a Kanima."

Jordan shook his head at the wealth of new, and essentially useless, information before ducking his head down. Sydney twisted her body and motioned towards the couch in the corner of the loft and soon enough, everyone was making their way towards it. Jordan took a seat in the middle of the cushions and Sydney stepped up onto the piece of furniture before crossing her legs and dropping down next to him, careful to leave a bit of space between their bodies.

She took in a deep inhale and fought off the smile tugging at her lips. Yes, she could faintly smell Peter on the couch and it made her happy to know that even if he wasn't with her, she still had something of him to hang on to, something to remind her to play it cool and not to give too much away.

"What's a Kanima?" Jordan seemed to have an endless supply of questions and Sydney couldn't exactly blame him. He clearly had a rough night and there were a lot of things that he didn't know about, not until he had escaped the fiery coffin that was his cruiser.

"We'll get back to that. Just know that everyone like us, everyone with some kind of supernatural ability is on the dead pool." Scott answered as moved towards the end of the couch and took up a perch on the side of it. Derek remained standing, as did Lydia, and Sydney couldn't help but notice how anxious the Martin girl was in a room full of werewolves, or maybe it was _just_ because Sydney was present.

"But I don't even know what I am." Jordan argued.

"I'm pretty sure they don't care." Derek pointed out, almost as though he was amused by the deputy's predicament. Sydney glared at him but he just widened his eyes at her move, almost challenging her. She rolled her shoulders back and took a deep breath, calming herself down.

"That's not important okay, we can't just send him back out there to get killed by crazy, psycho professional assassins." Sydney pointed out and Scott nodded along with her. Good, at least she had someone backing her up.

"How many professional assassins are we talking about?" Jordan seemed to be focused on Derek and Derek alone. Sydney couldn't help but think that maybe if they had all met under different circumstances that the three of them could have made a really good trio of friends. Yes, that would have been perfect. The idea of having the two guys as her best friends greatly appealed to Sydney, it was just too bad that they were currently all in Derek's loft discussing the fundamentals of the dead pool.

"We're starting to lose count." Lydia replied.

"But is it still _just_ professionals?" Scott broke in.

"I don't think Haigh's ever tried anything like this. I think he was taking a chance." Jordan stated and Sydney sucked in a breath.

"I don't think it was ever 'just' professional killers." Sydney added. "I mean, those two kids, now this Deputy Haigh, I don't know that Mouthless was all that professional, he carried an ax for god's sake, what kind of professional assassin uses an ax."

"Tomahawk." Derek and Parrish shot back at the same time.

"Tomahawk, what the fuck ever. I don't know about you but when I think of professional assassins I picture top of their class government killers with rifles that have scopes on them that can see people across the Atlantic."

"Syd, really?" Derek glowered at her and she raised her hands in surrender.

"Okay, that was an exaggeration, but you get my point, it's not 'just' professionals anymore, if it was ever 'just' professionals to start with."

"That means anyone with the dead pool could take a chance." Derek seemed slightly less hostile now but Sydney wasn't about to press her luck. She was glad that Derek had been nice to her as long as he had.

"But if Haigh had it, then who else does?" Jordan had brought up yet another decent point. Haigh, a mere deputy, a guy low on the totem pole when it came to killing supernatural creatures, had managed to get a hold of the dead pool. How had that happened? "How easy is it to get this thing now?"

"That's what I want to know." Sydney quickly added. She knew that Scott and his pack had managed to get a copy of the dead pool; hell Lydia had been the one to break the code with the cipher key. If a bunch of teenagers could get their hands on it, how easily could a 'professional assassin' nab the list?

"Meredith knew something." Lydia said softly and Sydney cocked her head to the side. It wasn't too often that Lydia Martin gave up information willingly when Sydney was around, hell this was almost foreign to her. Usually it took a lot of convincing and maybe even constituted a bit of manipulation.

"What are you talking about?" Sydney groaned and stared at the banshee.

Lydia cocked her head to the side and turned away from everyone in the room. She focused her attention on the giant window in the middle of the loft but cautiously made her way towards the bed, gently lowering herself down on to the end of it.

"Meredith was only at my grandmother's lake house once but I think once was enough." Lydia started.

Derek turned his body around to face Lydia, bringing his back against the nearby wooden column, "how did your grandmother know her?"

"She didn't, she found her because of another woman named Maddy; the woman she loved." Lydia let out a soft sigh and stood up, walking towards Scott and offering him an old, worn out photograph. "I never met her, but I saw her name everywhere. She used to be part of a yacht racing team; there were plaques and trophies in the lake house from all the regattas she'd won."

"How did she die?" Parrish broke in; bring Lydia's attention to him now. He moved away from the couch and took up a stance in the middle of the room. Sydney fought off the urge to growl and laid down on the couch instead, watching them all listen to Lydia's story.

"How's not the story, it's what happened right before. My grandmother, Lorraine, used to work in San Francisco for IBM. She was there on a weekend, catching up on work, she started hearing this sound," Lydia paused and made her way towards the window, staring out at the dark night sky, "like rain, but when she looked out the windows, all she saw was blue sky."

"But she kept hearing the rain?" Scott pondered out loud.

"And it just kept getting louder." Lydia turned away from the window but didn't miss a beat. "Rain and thunder cracking like gunshots in her head…so loud. She finally just screamed."

"Like a Banshee." Derek said softly and Sydney felt the familiar rumbling building up in her stomach. She didn't like listening to Lydia, she hated the control the girl had over, well, over everyone and she didn't want to sit on the couch, listening to Lydia's boring story. Derek settled a glare in Sydney's direction and she glared right back, swallowing the growl forming in her throat.

"She called Maddy who was planning on taking one of the boats out on the lake, but Maddy said that the sun was shining there too, so Lorraine didn't say anything."

"Then what happened?" Sydney egged her on, more for spite than anything but Lydia was looking at Parrish. Chalk it up to jealousy but Sydney wasn't very fond of Lydia's eyes on the deputy and she fought harder to bite back the snarl that was heading in Lydia's direction.

"There was an accident." Parrish offered and Sydney rose to her feet, closing the distance between her and Jordan.

"It took them four days to find Maddy's body and then it took decades to figure out how Lorraine knew. She started with parapsychologists, like the PhD in their name made it more scientific. They built the study in the lake house according to every pseudoscientific theory they could of it worked." Lydia carried on.

"Shocker." Sydney scoffed. "Crazy is as crazy does."

"Syd…" Derek growled at her and Sydney huffed in frustration. "Then what happened?"

"So then she started going to more extreme occult. Things like mediums and psychics, all of them were failures, until she found Meredith. They found her in Eichen House, this fragile girl who didn't understand the things she heard. They brought her to the study and they almost killed her. She was hospitalized for over a year and she…never really recovered. My grandmother drove her insane. I drove her to suicide. And all she ever wanted to do was help."

"Yeah and look where that got her." Sydney muttered. Lydia pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket and set it on the nearby table.

_"_My grandmother created the code for the dead pool. They think she's the banshee who put the names out in the first place. She left me this message in the same code." Lydia droned on. Hell Sydney was learning quite a bit about banshees and how certifiably insane they really were.

"But she didn't leave a cipher key, did she?" Scott broke in and Lydia shook her head no.

"Are you done now?" Sydney piped up.

"Why's she even here?" Lydia shot back.

"Contrary to popular belief, I know a little bit about this stuff, plus I was the one who pulled Deputy Parrish here out of a fucking bonfire." Sydney growled back at the banshee. "So you know what, you can just take a step back _little girl_."

"I'm done here." Lydia retorted. "_We're_ done here."

"Good." Sydney snorted. "I wouldn't mind getting home."

Parrish closed the distance between himself and Sydney and set his hand on her wrist. She felt her body relax at his touch and turned her attention towards him. If he knew what kind of effect he had on her, he didn't let on, instead he motioned for the door, suggesting that maybe it was time they left.

"Leaving so soon?" Lydia baited and Sydney bit down on her tongue, following Jordan as he led her out of the loft.

When the two of them were outside, the door shut behind them, he turned to look at her and studied the hard expression on her face. She flinched as his hand rose up but she calmed down when he merely tucked a lock of her luscious brown hair behind her ear.

"You've got some sort of unresolved issues with Lydia in there." He remarked and she ground her teeth together. "Hey, I'm not judging you here, I'm sure you have your reasons."

"She doesn't like me either." Sydney pointed out.

"I saw that too." He nodded his understanding of the mutual dislike for one another. "So, you're a werewolf…"

"Does that freak you out?" She asked with a sigh. She'd let the Lydia thing go for now, especially if Parrish was focused solely on her. "You don't seem to be taking this too hard you know."

"Maybe it hasn't really sunk in, or maybe I've seen crazier things."

"Well you _were_ set on fire and you somehow managed to survive that." Sydney pointed out.

"My sentiments exactly." He smiled at her and Sydney couldn't help but smile right back at him. "Come on, I think it's time I got home. Did you need a ride at all?"

"Um, no I have my car." She nodded.

"Well, then let me walk you to it."

Sydney leaned against him and let him slip his arm around her shoulders. She let out a soft sigh and moved with him as he led her towards the top of the stairs. She glanced to the side and basked in his warmth, feeling calm just being near him. Phoenix or not, Sydney was starting to like having Deputy Jordan Parrish as an ally, she just hoped that he'd survive.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Sydney and Peter, back together temporarily, do you think Peter's starting to get a little concerned with all of the time she's spending with other people, mainly Stiles and Parrish? A little Sydney and Derek interaction too, I hope you guys like the loft scene. It would seem that Lydia is not growing on Sydney at all._**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_19irene19: I hope it was worth the wait! Thank you so much for the review!_**

**_cecld16: Parrish and Sydney make the best pair of buddies! That butt kicking scene will happen, I got you covered! Aw yay, Syd's moving on up! Thanks so much for the review, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment, more Parrish and Sydney being absolute bros for you!_**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW_****__****_: Sheriff and Sydney make really good allies in my opinion, they both care a lot about Stiles (Sheriff obviously more since Stiles is his son) and she'd do almost anything in her power to protect both Stilinskis. Thank you so much for the review! _**

**_LirealAion: He IS such a gentleman! Yes, Sydney definitely needs friends, and more her own age too haha. She's one of those girls that prefers hanging around guys and as for the distraction, well I think I've got something that I hope you'll like (No funny business though). Thanks so much for the review!_******

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	26. Chapter 26

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 26****:**

When her cell phone vibrated against her hip in the car, she had pulled over, hoping that maybe it was Stiles letting her know what was going on with his dad. She managed to get the phone out of her pocket and furrowed her eyebrows at the name. She hadn't really been expecting him to call, yes she had given him her number but for his name to actually flash across the screen had her confused.

"Liam?" She asked as she answered the call.

"Yeah, Sydney right, you're an alpha, like Scott?"

"Um yeah, yeah I am." Sydney nodded, even though he couldn't see her. The poor kid sounded frantic and Sydney wasn't entirely sure what he wanted. Now wasn't really the best time for her to explain werewolf eye colour to him like she had offered.

"Look I don't know what you know or what you're doing right now but I think that maybe Scott needs help." Liam stammered and Sydney knew that something wasn't right. There was clearly something bothering this poor young man and she wasn't entirely sure that she was the appropriate person to help him.

She was involved with Peter Hale, a man that everyone seemed to be against. She knew that they had valid reasons but it didn't make her love him any less. Sydney was very well aware that Peter was manipulative and conniving but he was her mate, she wasn't going to turn on him, not without a reason anyways.

"Okay, well, what's going on?" Sydney held her breath, hoping that whatever Scott needed her help with was something slightly easier that what she had been involved with earlier. Sydney didn't want to have to help someone get out of a fire that was burning inside a cruiser, no, that was way too much for her and she'd probably have nightmares for weeks.

"Scott just dropped me off; he said he was heading out to help Kira. They managed to find a couple of werewolves who're on the dead pool."

"Okay, so what's he need my help with?"

"Just when he was about to leave, he told me that he was going to the vet's to make sure everyone was okay. He was going to find them somewhere to hide. I just get this feeling that maybe he could use an extra pair of hands."

Sydney mulled over Liam's explanation and decided that whatever was going down at the vet's, maybe she could benefit from being there. She didn't mind helping other people, people who were on the dead pool, but she was so close to being back home with Peter, who she felt like she was neglecting lately.

He had a plan of his own and while she wasn't entirely sure what it consisted of, she figured that she could get it out of him, as long as she played her part. She'd give him everything she had, she'd manage to convince him that she was loyal and devoted, which wasn't a total lie, she _was_ loyal and devoted but to him, not his plan. She'd love the man until the day she died, so long as he didn't hurt her friends.

"No worries Liam. I'll stop there on my way home." Sydney gave in with a small sigh and knew that she'd have a lot of making up to do when she got back to the apartment. When she had left Peter earlier, she had told him to think of the most intimate place he could possibly bite her and she'd let him, that was her promise.

"I mean, you don't, you don't have to I just thought, well I don't really know who else to talk to about this stuff."

"Don't worry about it Liam. I gave you my number for a reason, I'm just trying to figure this out too."

"Thanks then, I uh, I appreciate it."

"Hey, keep yourself safe will you?" Sydney said in a teasing tone. "Take care of yourself."

"Yeah, I will, same to you."

"I'll talk to you later Liam." Sydney smiled and after he said his goodbye, she ended the call, debating whether or not to text Peter and let him know what she was doing.

She shook her head and shoved the phone into her pocket before pulling back onto the road and altering her route so that she was heading for the animal clinic. She wasn't too far away and she figured it would be a quick in and out, just to see if Scott needed her for anything.

Minutes later she pulled her car into the small parking lot of the animal clinic. She could smell an abundance of werewolves and shook her head, trying to focus her senses in on one. Sydney turned her car off, pushed her door open and climbed out, slamming the door shut behind her. She jogged towards the front door and pulled on the handle, finding that it was locked. She let out a huff of frustration and knocked furiously on the glass.

With her eyes wide, she looked into the darkened clinic and waited patiently for whoever was coming her way to spot her. When Kira the kitsune, one of her favourite people in McCall's pack, showed her face from the back hall, Sydney tossed her a wave and the young girl rushed forward, flipping the lock and letting her inside.

"Liam called me; he said that Scott might need help." Sydney explained as she stepped over the threshold. Kira nodded her understanding and waved her back.

"I have to warn you, there are a lot of werewolves in the back." Kira replied.

"I know, I can smell them, every last one of them."

Sydney let a silence fall over them as Kira led her to the back room. Scott was standing in the entryway, looking around the room at the small group of werewolves. Sydney stepped forward and glanced around, wondering if she knew any of these people.

"Syd?" Scott locked his eyes on her and she shrugged at him.

"Like I said out there, Liam called me and told me where you were." Sydney explained and continued to study the different faces in the room. She stepped around the metal table, which warranted a few low growls from the pack, but Scott had raised his hands upwards, letting them know that it was okay, that she was with him and she wasn't going to hurt any of them.

Sydney's eyes widened as she made her way around the table, the tiny little girl staring up at her, the same tiny little girl that she had met when she was in the hospital with Peter while Cora laid motionless on the bed. If Sydney recalled correctly, her name was Samantha and she had been lost in the hospital during the evacuation. The little girl had managed to get herself stuck in one of the supply closets, which is precisely where Sydney had found her.

"It's you." The little girl breathed and rushed at Sydney, wrapping her little tiny arms around Sydney's knees.

"It _is_ me." Sydney felt her eyes filling up with tears. This little girl was part of the werewolf pack in Deaton's back room? Did that mean she was on the dead pool list? Was there someone out there who was after her, who wanted to kill such a sweet, little, innocent girl?

Hang on, if she was on the dead pool, did that mean she was some sort of supernatural creature? Had Sydney missed something when she had saved her from the closet at the hospital?

"You know her?" Scott questioned and looked between Sydney and the little girl, Samantha, who was still hugging Sydney's knees, nuzzling her nose against her thighs.

"Uh, you could say that." Sydney answered. "What's she doing here?"

"Her mother." An older lady stood up straighter and stared at Sydney with her intense gaze. When her irises flickered to a bold, fiery red, Sydney tensed.

"This is Satomi." Scott interjected, waving his hand down the length of the older woman. "And this is her pack, or well, what's left of it."

"Satomi…" Sydney repeated the name out loud, hoping that it might mean something to her. Maybe her mother knew of this Satomi, maybe Satomi knew of the Vance family.

"Yes and what might your name be?" The older lady, who Sydney now knew as Satomi, questioned her. Sydney glanced down at Samantha and the little girl loosened her grip on Sydney's legs. The young female alpha crouched down, took hold of Samantha and lifted her up, situating her so that she was resting on her hip.

"Sydney Vance." Sydney answered and Samantha squirmed for a few seconds before settling against Sydney, dropping her head down to rest on her shoulder. Sydney lifted her hand up and brushed the little girl's hair away from her eyes, looking at her face and checking her over for visible injuries.

"Vance? Did you say Vance?" Satomi questioned and Sydney nodded her head yes. "Any relation to Brynn Vance?"

Sydney, once again, nodded her head yes, "She was my mother."

"Your mother." Satomi echoed her words in a soft tone and looked Sydney up and down, studying the girl in front of her. "She was a great woman."

"So I've heard." Sydney smiled and tightened her hold on Samantha, who was snuggling into Sydney's body.

"How do you know Samantha?" Satomi pressed and even Scott and Kira were looking at Sydney, as well as everyone else in the room. This was clearly an important question, and Sydney wasn't entirely sure how to react.

"She saved me." Samantha murmured and turned her head to look at Satomi. "She found me."

"She found you?" Scott piped up.

"When we were all at the hospital during the alpha pack attack…I found her locked inside a closet so I broke the door down and helped her find her mom." Sydney explained as quickly as she could. She didn't want to get into the details; she didn't figure there was that much time.

"My mom." Samantha groaned and Sydney looked down into her eyes, sensing that something was very, very wrong.

"Her mother was one of the ones that didn't survive." Satomi nodded gravely. "And her father passed away a long time ago."

"What is she?" Sydney asked and ran her hand through Samantha's bright blonde hair.

"She's like us." Satomi answered and waved her hand around the room, "however, she was born a human."

"She's a bitten werewolf?" Sydney narrowed her eyes on the older lady.

"Yes, her father was a human; we had to bite her in order to save her."

"I was sick." Samantha whispered and Sydney looked around the room, the many werewolves nodding along, confirming the story that Satomi was helping Sydney piece together.

"So you bit her and turned her?" Sydney inquired, more for confirmation than anything.

"We had no other choice."

"Can I stay with you?" Samantha looked up at Sydney with her big blue eyes, which were now welling up with tears.

Sydney held the little girl's gaze for a few more seconds before lifting her head up and connecting her gaze with Satomi's. Sydney wasn't entirely sure what to do, on one hand she would love nothing more than to take this little girl and protect her, at least Sydney would know that she'd be safer with her. On the other hand though, she had to go back to the apartment, back to Peter and she wasn't entirely sure what he would do about her showing up with a little girl in her possession.

"I can vouch for Syd." Scott piped up, sensing that the little girl wasn't going to be easy to convince to stay with her pack. "She's a good protector."

Sydney wasn't sure what Scott was basing his comment on but at least the true alpha knew that Stiles trusted Sydney and if Stiles trusted her, well, that had to mean something. She hadn't ever tried to kill Scott and even though she disliked Lydia, and Malia, Sydney hadn't hurt them in any way, shape or form either. Maybe Scott had more faith in her than she first believed.

"You can assure us that you'll do everything you can to keep her safe?" Satomi stepped forward.

"Uh, wow, um, yes, yes I will." Sydney breathed the words out.

"If you'd like, I'll allow her to stay with you, until it's safe for us to take her back." Satomi continued and Sydney knew that if this alpha, this older, powerful alpha trusted her, maybe she could handle taking care of Samantha for a short period of time after all.

"If she really wants to stay with me, I'll take her." Sydney murmured and Samantha ran her hands up and over Sydney's shoulders, clinging to her with everything she had.

"I want to stay with you." Samantha repeated her words, her tone still soft and low.

"I won't let anything happen to her." Sydney offered and Satomi nodded, giving her silent permission to look after the little girl in her arms.

"Be good little one." Satomi said softly and Samantha glanced back at the alpha, nodding her understanding.

"Is there anything else I can do?" Sydney spoke up and looked around the room. Satomi shook her head no, as did Scott. Kira smiled at Sydney and nodded her understanding.

"We can handle it from here." Scott stated firmly. "Thanks though."

Sydney nodded her understanding and looked down into Samantha's blue eyes, "what do you say we get out of her then, huh sweetheart?"

The little girl nodded her head yes and Sydney held her tighter, making sure that she had a decent hold on the little female werewolf. Satomi gave Sydney another nod and Kira waved for Sydney to move forward, following her back out to the front of the animal clinic. Sydney stood behind Kira as the kitsune unlocked the door and opened it for Sydney.

"Be careful." Kira said softly.

"You too Kira. You guys call me if you need me, okay?"

"Sure." Kira nodded.

With that, Sydney was off. She wandered through the parking lot, Samantha clinging to her as she moved. When she approached her car, the little girl began squirming and Sydney lowered down, setting her feet on the ground. She unlocked the car, opened the passenger side door and watched as Samantha clambered inside, situating herself into a sitting position in the seat.

Sydney gently shut the door and started making her way around the front of the car, pausing to look back at the animal clinic. Kira was standing inside the door and she tossed a wave in Sydney's direction.

With the little girl in her car, Sydney squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that she could protect her. She didn't want anyone else to die, except, of course, for Kate Argent, yes, the former hunter still needed to pay.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Samantha wasn't going to be letting go of Sydney, not by a long shot. When she had pulled into the apartment parking lot, Samantha had immediately tried to free herself from the seatbelt and crawl across into Sydney's lap. The female alpha told Samantha to wait and before the little girl knew it, Sydney was at the door, helping her out of the car and hoisting her back up against her hip.

It was surprisingly easy, getting the girl to calm down, and as Sydney climbed the stairs, she couldn't help but notice that the little girl in her arms had fallen asleep. Okay so maybe children weren't so bad after all, maybe she could handle protecting Samantha. All she had to do was feed her, make sure she went to the bathroom and put her to sleep at night, right? Maybe parenting wasn't that hard, maybe Sydney could do it.

Samantha's breathing was even and her heartbeat was steady by the time Sydney managed to get the apartment door open. She stepped inside and quietly shut the door behind her, glancing around and spotting Peter sitting on the couch.

"Good you're back!" He exclaimed and rose to his feet. Sydney threw the lock across and flipped her boots off with her feet, still clinging to the sound asleep Samantha in her hold.

When Peter turned around to face her, his eyes widened at the sight of his mate cradling a little girl, a vaguely familiar little girl. He scoured his memories, trying to remember where he had seen this particular blonde haired child before.

"Be quiet, she's sleeping." Sydney whispered and wandered towards him, gingerly readjusting her hold on the girl. Peter cocked his head as Sydney moved towards him.

"Who is she?" He asked, his voice just barely louder than a whisper. Okay, so apparently he understood that if he woke her up, then they'd actually have to deal with the girl. He was definitely on the same page as Sydney now.

"Samantha, she's the little girl from the hospital, remember, when Cora was sick." Sydney murmured and ran her hand over the back of Samantha's head. "I made a pit stop on my way home."

"Where?"

"Deaton's. Scott and Kira were there, watching over a pack of wolves." Sydney answered and felt Samantha move the slightest bit in her hold.

"A pack of wolves?"

"Satomi's pack to be exact." Sydney nodded.

"Satomi?"

"Yeah. Anyways, Samantha's mother was a werewolf in her pack but she uh, well she didn't make it."

Peter studied Sydney's eyes, "how did you end up with her then?"

"When I walked into the room with all the others, she came running at me and asked if she could stay with me. Scott vouched for me and Satomi said that I could take her for the time being. Peter, whoever was after them before they got to the clinic are _still_ after them. There's no way they'd all survive if they had to look after her."

"So you brought her here?"

"I can protect her." Sydney said, softly and firmly.

Peter let out a frustrated sigh and Sydney glared at him. She knew he wasn't going to be happy, she did, but she also knew that Samantha needed to be taken care of. There was something about the girl that tugged at Sydney's heart. It probably had something to do with the fact that her mother was dead, yes, Sydney could relate to that. At least if Samantha was with them, she'd be safe, especially with Sydney and the control she hoped she still had over the berserkers. No one was going to harm anyone if Sydney had anything to say about it.

"What are you going to do with her?" Peter asked, looking at her, wondering what the hell she was thinking.

"Right now, I'm going to go put in her bed."

"And what about you and I?"

"I'm staying with her; you can sleep on the couch." Sydney pointed out and looked down at the piece of furniture in question. "She's not leaving my sight."

Peter threw his hands up into the air in defeat and motioned for Sydney to go, to put the girl to bed.

She walked past him, brushing against him in the process, and headed right for the bedroom. Sydney reached out and flipped the light on, stepping into the room and gently laying the little girl on the bed. Standing in front of the dresser, she pulled out a clean shirt before stripping off the one she had worn to the loft. Sydney put the new shirt on and wandered towards the end of the bed, dropping her butt down, sitting there silently as she listened to the little girl snoring. When she glanced back, she noticed her stuffed wolf in the pillows nearby and prayed that Samantha would be okay for the night.

"Sydney!" Peter's voice gently called out to her and from her spot on the end of the bed, she heard him easily. "Come here?"

Sydney let out a sigh and slapped her hands against her jean clad thighs before making her way to her feet. She was exhausted, tired from all the excitement surrounding her life. All she really wanted to do was climb under the covers and sleep without a care in the world, right next to Samantha. Was it so much to ask for a simple life, a life without the threat of death and destruction at every turn?

Simple answer: yes it was.

Without any more hesitation, she took off for the bedroom door, flipping the light off as she passed it. She paused and pulled the door shut so as not to disturb Samantha for the time being and when she wandered into the rest of the apartment she was expecting Peter to be perched at the island or maybe even still standing in the middle of the room but, just like everything else that seemed to be rubbing her the wrong way, he was not where he should have been. She twisted around and finally located him back in the living room.

He was sitting on the couch again, legs outstretched in front of him, feet on the coffee table and a curious look etched on his face. Sydney slowly closed the distance between her and him and when she was about three feet away from him, she stopped and looked at him, wondering what the hell he wanted her for this time.

"What?" She drawled out, not in a rude way but not in a totally polite way either.

"There's something I want to try." He stated and if that was supposed to clear up her confusion, it did nothing of the sort. She furrowed her eyebrows together and stared at him, curious to find out what he was going on about. Try something? What did that even mean?

"Are you hungry, if you're hungry you can just ask." She pointed out and crossed her arms over her chest. Her gray long sleeve shirt was crisp and clean and hugged her in all the right places. It was weird though to Peter. He had never really seen her in anything other than a t-shirt, or at most a jacket.

"I'm not- no this is important." He argued and straightened up on the couch. Peter's arm extended towards her and she looked at him. He beckoned her to move towards him with his fingers and when she was close enough for him to reach her, he latched on to her wrist and guided her.

Sydney hadn't been expecting him to pull her onto his lap or to straddle his thighs but that's exactly what he had done. He moved her hands up and set them on his shoulders, his face level with her neck as she sat straight up.

"Couch sex?" Sydney inquired and tilted her head to the side. Surely he could go one night without sex but she had to admit, this seemed like a decent compromise. Peter let out a frustrated growl and wiggled his hips, forcing his own body to move slightly, rising up so that his eyes were level with hers.

"First of all, if I wanted to try that I wouldn't have asked and second of all, not everything is about sex." He scolded her and she rolled her head back. "Especially not with that child here."

"Well then what do you want to try?"

Peter didn't bother using his words to answer, at least not just yet. He reached up and took hold of her right hand, placing it at the back of his neck. His eyes never left hers as he fumbled with her fingers, moving them individually until they were placed along his spine. She felt the tips of her nails digging into his skin just enough so that her fingers wouldn't slip away but she still wasn't entirely sure what his plan was.

"You're an alpha and there are some things that I can teach you. I know that you said your mother showed you how but I doubt you've had any practice since-"

"Hold up, you're going to let me look into your memories?" She stared at him in disbelief. She wasn't aware that there was anyone on the face of the earth that he would trust enough to let see into his memories yet here she was, preparing herself to do just that.

"Well _certain_ memories." He smirked at her and she knew that there was more to this exercise than just showing her what he remembered. "Unless you've had lots of practice then there are places in my mind that you won't be able to get to, not yet at least."

"Are you going to let me see who you've been kissing under the slides at recess?" She asked, her tone laced with sarcasm.

"There's so many more important memories that I'd rather you look at." He jeered and she tensed at the feeling of his hand pressing gently against the back of hers, the one on his neck. "Now are you going to use your claws or would you rather try to break through my skin with your blunt human fingernails?"

Sydney fought off the desire to growl at him and forced her claws to the surface. She felt her irises flash red in the process but, her eyes trained on Peter, he didn't even flinch. She could feel the tips of her claws biting into his skin but she didn't dare put any pressure behind her fingers, not while his hand was still resting on the back of hers.

"Happy?"

"Come on now Sydney, you should be enjoying this." He baited and brought the hand not at the back of his neck around her waist, his own fingers biting into her hip. She tensed and leaned forward, her chest closing the distance to his.

"What if I do it wrong? I could paralyze you-"

"You didn't paralyze that little girl when you did it to her, did you?"

Sydney took her left hand and pressed it against his chest as she took a deep breath in. When she had tried to see into her young friend's memories when she was in fourth grade she most definitely hadn't paralyzed her, the poor girl was screaming and thrashing at the time but there was a whole other set of concerns here and now. She didn't want to paralyze him, she knew she could also kill him but he seemed perfectly content to let her try.

"Her name was Lindsay and no I didn't."

"So if you did it without hurting Lindsay, why are you concerned about hurting me?"

"Why are you making me do this?" She countered without bothering to dignify his question with a direct response at all. "Why's this so important to you?"

"As an alpha it's a valuable skill to have. People trust you and if you were put in a position where seeing someone's memories is necessary, I'd like for you to be able to do it. It might also be beneficial, in the future, for you to be able to share your own memories with other people."

"You mean make them see what I saw? If you had the chance, would you make Kate relive the fire?"

"Absolutely."

"And if you were me, would you make her watch my parents be slaughtered?"

"I would." Peter answered her, his eyes locked on hers and a stone cold expression on his face. "But that's not what you should be focusing on right now. I want you to learn this skill."

Sydney's eyes fell shut for a second before she opened them back up and stared at him. He made no move to squirm or object and she leaned forward, closing the distance between their faces, pressing her lips against his. His fingers dug into her hip further as he held her steady and she fought off the groan growing in the back of her throat and the hold he had. The tips of her claws buried themselves deeper into his flesh at the back of his neck and she felt the pressure from his own hand on hers, as though he were trying to force her claws into his neck.

With his lips still pressed against hers, his grip on her hips tightening ever so slightly, Peter gave one final jerk of his hand and her claws sliced almost effortlessly into his spine. She let out a gasp but felt her eyes going blurry, the scene in the apartment slowly fading away.

_Flashes of his memory from the time Derek had disappeared, shortly after Boyd's death, filled her vision and she couldn't narrow in on just one yet. The memories were moving too fast. One second she was watching Peter mosey across the loft as he spoke to Cora and Stiles, the next second there was visions of him sitting at the island in the kitchen, watching as Sydney headed towards the bathroom. _

_She watched him sitting there, his ears perked and listening as the water in the tub was turned on. The Peter in his memory shook his head and dropped his attention down to the book in front of him. Sydney simply watched him, flipping through the pages of the book before the very own sound of her pounding heart echoed into the apartment. Still watching him, he straightened up and locked his eyes on the door, clearly interested in why her heart was pounding in the shower. He shook his head with a smirk and dropped his gaze back down to the book in front of him._

_When her faint voice called his name, he cocked his head at the sound and watched the bathroom door, waiting for her to appear. She knew full well what was going on in the bathroom; she would never be able to forget the panic, the fear of not being able to breathe. Seconds later her voice sounded out for a second and third time, desperately calling out to him. Before she could witness him charging the bathroom, her vision blurred yet again and when it cleared up, she was at the school._

_Peter marched through the halls, clearly on a mission, and he didn't slow down until he approached an empty classroom, well empty except for the woman known as Jennifer Blake standing casually inside. Sydney wasn't entirely sure if it was voluntary or just a spasm but she swore she could feel his grip on her hip tighten. Was this what he wanted her to see?_

"_You." The woman crossed her arms over her chest and stepped towards Peter_

"_Rumour has it you're not just sacrificing anymore; you're eliminating threats now too." Peter matched her movements with his own, closing in on her._

_Sydney watched as they circled each other, Jennifer Blake following Peter with her eyes while he wandered around her, studying her, trying to pinpoint her weakness._

"_I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here." The darach scoffed._

"_Don't play dumb now. You don't need to take the girl."_

"_You mean Derek's girl? Sydney? Is that her name?" Sydney simply watched. Was that what the darach had thought of her, that she belonged to Derek? Did Jennifer Blake assume she was somehow romantically involved with Derek and that Sydney would ruin her plans? "Of course I need to take her, she's the biggest threat there is."_

_Peter came to a stop in front of her, "To you? She's not a threat to you. She and Derek are nothing." _

_Sydney could feel the tension in his body, the panic rushing through his veins. Even though she knew the outcome of this particular memory (that she would eventually be cured) she was still nervous. _

"_After what I saw the other day, she is obviously a very real threat."_

"_Not to you!" Peter's voice was loud and intimidating yet the woman didn't budge. "She's nothing to Derek! Nothing! She's my-"_

"_She's your what?" Jennifer Blake asked, her voice eerily calm as though she had stumbled onto something of great importance._

_Sydney didn't miss the territorial growl and when she tried to look at the teacher, she knew that she hadn't missed it either._

"_She's mine."_

_Sydney swore her body shivered at his words. This memory had taken place days before they had become mated. Did that mean that Peter had wanted her even when he claimed he didn't? Had he actually had feelings for her before she had convinced him to tell her that he loved her?_

_Was this his way of proving that she had __**always**__ meant more to him than he had let on?_

"_She needs to die." Miss Blake's voice brought Sydney's focus back to the scene unfolding in front of her very eyes._

"_She's not going to get in the way of your sacrificing. Let her live." Peter seemed calmer now but she could still tell by his tense stance that he was expecting her to put up a fight._

"_You want me to just let her live? What's the fun in that? Surely you didn't expect me to let her go out of the goodness of my own heart."_

"_What do you want?" Peter asked the woman._

"_You mean besides the elimination of one very threatening woman? You give me Scott McCall's mother, __when__ I need her." This woman had believed Sydney to be a decent threat from the second she laid eyes on her. Maybe Sydney should have given the woman more credit but in the end, she was the one who had been lit on fire, she was the one who had her throat shredded. Whether the woman believed Sydney was a threat or not at that exact point in time didn't matter because now Sydney was the one still breathing._

"_Done," He breathed out, "now let her go."_

_She felt the school going blurry again and she squeezed her eyes shut._

Seconds later, when her eyes popped open, she found herself staring into the icy blue eyes of Peter Hale, who was still caged under her thighs. He remained silent but at the same time as she did, he pulled on her claws and freed them from his neck. Sydney never broke her gaze with him and when his hand that had been guiding hers came around her waist, she leaned against him, eliminating any space between their bodies.

"You did all that for me?" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper and she slowly rested her forehead against his.

"You're worth it."

"You're crazy if you think that." She murmured and tilted her head, her lips lingering on his. As if she hadn't been confused enough when it came to Peter lately, he had to go and show her that? Why couldn't things with him just be simple, black and white, right and wrong?

"I believe you once told me that I was lucky to have a goddess like you in my life. I'll deny it to anyone else but I took those words to heart."

"I changed my mind though remember, I'm a queen." Sydney said softly. "And you're my king."

"Well, how can I argue with that?"

"You can't, but I just have one question." Sydney's lips turned upwards into a smile and she gave him a quick kiss.

"What's that?"

"What would you have done if you couldn't bargain with her?" Sydney questioned. "She had me by a thread; she would have killed me if you couldn't get her to back down."

"Then I would have ripped her apart."

"Is that supposed to be a turn on?" Sydney cocked her head to the side. "I mean, I kind of think that'd be sexy as hell to watch."

"Me ripping her apart?"

"For me. Everything's sexy to a girl when you do it _for them_." She grinned.

"Not to alarm you but unless you want me to take you right here on the couch, you're going to have to let me up. Not to mention that dear little Samantha in the other room might hear"

"Hmm I could but you're looking at it all wrong." She moved her hands around to the back of his neck and held on to him.

"How do you mean?"

"Well in all fairness I've got _you_ right where I want. As your alpha, I think it's time you start letting me take control, plus she's out cold Peter. She's not going to wake up, and if she does, we'll hear her before she can ever get out of the bedroom."

Peter simply looked at her, waiting for her next words. She let out a laugh and leaned in, kissing him once again. When she rocked her hips forward he couldn't help but wonder what else she'd be willing to do if he just let her take control.

There was really only one way to find out.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Liam contacting Sydney in order to try and help Scott, how sweet! And little Samantha has made her way back into Sydney's life, how do you guys feel about Sydney taking care of her for the time being? How do you guys feel about Sam in general? Peter letting Sydney see what he went through when he saved her from Jennifer Blake, part of his plan to keep her close or does he genuinely want her to know how he felt at the time (maybe a manipulation)?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_cecld16: Liam's not stupid but he hasn't told Scott yet, maybe he's going to feel it out before he makes any big decisions. She is technically keeping it a secret but she's doing that so that she has the element of surprise if she ever needs it (sounds a lot like Peter's idea lol), more and more people are gradually finding out. Thank you so much for the review, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment and I'd love to know what you thought about it!_**

**__****_Guest_****_: Parrish does know she's in a relationship but at this current time, he doesn't know who it's with. I will just tell you this, Parrish will find out about her and Peter. Thank you so much for the review, how did you like this chapter?_**

**_OutlawqueenFTW: Um yes, why wouldn't she lol. How'd you like this chapter? _**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	27. Chapter 27

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 27****:**

Sydney had figured it would take a lot more to convince Peter to sleep on the couch but he had given in fairly easily. She had brought him out a pillow off the bed and had said her goodnights, curling up in his arms for a few minutes before breaking out of his hold and heading back towards the bedroom. Opting for a pair of shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt as her pajamas, she slowly made her way towards the bed, climbing on top of the covers and laying down slowly.

Sydney hadn't meant to wake up the little girl who had fallen asleep before they even entered the apartment but when she climbed onto the bed, she had accidentally nudged the girl's sleeping form, jarring her from her peaceful slumber. Samantha stared up at Sydney, her blue eyes wide and full of wonder and Sydney merely smiled down at her before climbing under the covers. Samantha didn't hesitate for one second before scooting over on the bed and burying her face into Sydney's chest.

The female alpha hesitated but brought her arms around the little girl and let out a soft sigh. She wasn't entirely sure what she had gotten herself into when she had agreed to take the little girl but so far she felt like she could handle it, she was holding her own and the tiny child seemed content. Sydney knew that she'd do whatever she could to make sure nothing harmed her, that's what she had promised, that she'd protect Samantha.

"Where did you bring me?" Samantha asked, leaning back in Sydney's hold and looking up into her eyes. Sydney ran her hand up and down the little girl's back.

"I brought you to my home." Sydney answered softly and felt the girl relaxing in her arms.

"I can smell another wolf." Samantha murmured and squirmed slightly, shifting in the bed so that she was a little more comfortable.

"Don't worry, that's just Peter." Sydney stated, reassuring the little girl that she was safe so long as Sydney had anything to say about it.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

Sydney smiled at the little girl and let out a low giggle.

"Same one as before, remember, from the hospital." Sydney answered.

"You've been with him forever!" Samantha remarked, her eyes lighting up. "Do you love him?"

Sydney took her question to heart and hesitated for a few seconds, truly mulling it over. She _did_ love Peter, that wasn't what had her second guessing everything, now it was more than that. Lying here, in the bed, with Samantha, Sydney found herself wondering what their future held.

Peter wasn't about to just let go of everything he had been working on to be with her, she knew that. Hell there was a reason he had struck a deal with Kate, which was something that really bothered her, but was there ever a chance that Peter would settle, that he'd give up this crazy hunt for power and just be with her?

Looking into Samantha's bright blue eyes, Sydney wasn't sure what she really wanted. Maybe having a child of her own was starting to look like something she _could_ want. She was a pretty strong werewolf; she was a fierce woman and an unrelenting protector. Could she raise a child and manage to survive?

The more Sydney thought about it, the more she found herself thinking maybe it _was_ something she wanted to at least consider.

"I do love him." Sydney answered and moved her hand through Samantha's bright, blonde hair. "He's my everything."

"Everything?" Samantha's eyes narrowed in on Sydney. "Really?"

"Well, yeah."

"What's it like to be in love?"

Sydney was caught off guard. This little girl, sweet, innocent Samantha, was asking what it was like to be in love and Sydney, as much as she knew she loved Peter, wasn't entirely sure how to answer her. Their relationship was complicated, it wasn't simple, it was complex, hard at times but Sydney knew that she didn't want to be anywhere else, nor did she want to be_ with_ anyone else. Like she had said, Peter was her everything.

The female alpha went to respond to her question but she found that it wasn't as easy as that. The words caught in her throat and she choked on them. Samantha reached a tiny little hand out and rested her palm on Sydney's cheek. When footsteps sounded out from the rest of the apartment, both girls tensed but looked towards the door, where Peter stood, leaning against the frame.

"Being in love is like finding your other half." He said softly. "It's knowing that no matter how bad circumstances get, there's always someone who will be there for you at the end of the day. You feel complete when you're with that person and there's nothing in the world that would hurt more than losing them."

Sydney's eyes were glued on Peter and Samantha let out a giggle at his explanation.

"My mommy used to tell me that it was the best feeling in the world and that if I ever found someone to love that I'd just know." The little girl offered.

"Your mother sounds like a very smart woman." Peter nodded.

"She was." Samantha beamed up at him now. "You can come lay with us, if you want!"

Peter dropped his head down and cautiously made his way into the bedroom. Sydney took Samantha tight against her chest and moved them to the side of the bed, making room for Peter to slip in behind his mate. Samantha's head fell gracefully into the pillow and her eyes fluttered shut as she let out a contented sigh.

"Were you listening the whole time?" Sydney asked softly.

Peter lay down behind her and pressed a kiss to the back of her head. She tensed momentarily as his hand snaked around her middle, pulling her flush against him.

"Maybe." Peter murmured and felt Sydney's body relax against his. Yes, Sydney loved him and he loved her, every word that he had said was true. Until she had come along, Peter hadn't really felt like he had much, he didn't have someone who would be there for him. Sure he had his family; Derek and Cora, but even they didn't seem to trust him, which he didn't entirely blame them for.

"Are you two going to get married?" Samantha's voice was low and filled with exhaustion.

Sydney took her bottom lip in between her teeth and considered the question. Marrying Peter, well, if she was completely honest, marrying him wasn't much different than being mated, it merely made it official in the human aspect but was that something she wanted? Did she want a wedding, a ceremony where she could stand up in front of whomever and declare that she would give her life to Peter Hale?

"It's possible." Peter answered and Sydney hadn't really been expecting him to say anything.

"If you do, can I come to the wedding?" Samantha questioned and followed it up with a yawn.

"Go to sleep sweetheart." Sydney broke in before Peter started spouting off more words that she wasn't entirely prepared for. Samantha nodded her understanding and reached back, grabbing hold of Sydney's stuffed wolf before hugging it against her chest.

The tiny child let out a breath and shut her eyes, Sydney's hand still running up and down her back. A blanket of silence had fallen over them all and minutes later, Sydney figured she was the only one awake. When Peter's hand slipped up under her shirt though, and he moved forward, kissing her shoulder, she knew that the only one truly sleeping was the little girl in her hold.

"I think when all this is over, we should probably have a discussion." Peter murmured and Sydney craned her neck, glancing back at him.

"About what?"

"The future."

"Don't you think maybe we should focus on surviving this whole dead pool thing?" She countered.

"Your name isn't on the list and neither is mine."

"Still, I'm not sure it's that easy."

"Just make sure you don't die."

"Peter, I'm not afraid of dying." She admitted, letting out a low breath.

"No?"

"My fear isn't dying, it was never dying. My fear is living without you."

Peter's grasp on her tightened and she brought her legs up, curling into a ball. Samantha let out a soft snore and Sydney ran her fingers through the blonde's locks.

"I love you Sydney, I always will."

"I know, I love you too."

Peter pressed another kiss to her shoulder and felt Sydney's body relax at the action. He felt her snuggle into his hold and after a few silent minutes, he heard her breathing even out and her heart beating rhythmically in her chest.

He knew that it wasn't going to be easy, his plan wasn't as solid as he'd like it to be and even now, holding her in his arms, feeling her body against his, he wasn't sure how long it would last. Working with Kate, making the former hunter a deal, was that something that he could live with, would he be able to go through with the plan they had set out if it meant possibly losing the girl in his arms?

Maybe Peter wasn't as confident as he had been before he had wandered into the room, maybe he should have put more faith in Sydney, maybe, just maybe, he was having second thoughts about working with the one and only Kate Argent.

Was it really worth it in the end? Was it worth it if Sydney wound up hurt, physically and emotionally?

Sydney would simply have to understand. Peter wasn't sure anymore but he didn't know what other option he had.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Peter wasn't paying any attention when his phone had gone off the next day; he was too busy watching Sydney with Samantha on her lap while his alpha braided the little girl's hair. Peter was amazed, Sydney had made it very clear that she didn't want children and he wasn't going to disagree with her but watching her so effortlessly making the little blonde girl feel safe seemed to come naturally to her. When he picked up his phone and announced that they wanted to talk to him at the sheriff's station, Sydney was quick to jump at the opportunity.

He had asked what Sydney was doing at that moment though and Samantha had shot back with 'braiding my hair, duh', Sydney had to stifle her laughter. The entirety of the morning, the two girls had been inseparable and Peter wouldn't admit it out loud but he had learned more than his fair share of girl things; for example, what it was called when Sydney put two braids in Samantha's hair. He hadn't known that they were called pigtails, not until Samantha had thrown her hands in the air and exclaimed 'look Peter, look at my pig tails'. Sydney had made a motion to her newly braided hair and Peter concluded that pig tails were actually a way of doing hair and not actually a pig's tail.

It should have bothered him more than it did that the small child wasn't scared of him but then again, Sydney was right there, she had promised that she wouldn't let anything bad happen to her and if Peter was honest with himself, he didn't want to hurt the little girl, she was as innocent as they came.

The car ride hadn't been any less informative. Sydney had sat in the backseat with Samantha, the two of them blabbing on and on about such things as Barbies, doll houses and tea parties. Peter knew that Sydney hadn't exactly grown up with her parents but apparently she had gained a lot of childhood experience in the time that her parents _were _around. Sydney even promised that maybe they could have a tea party when they got back to the apartment. Samantha had inquired about Peter joining them and he found himself answering yes before Sydney had a chance to come up with an excuse to get him out of it.

Samantha was wrapped back around Sydney's side, resting against her hip, as the trio headed for the front door to the sheriff's station. Sydney clutched the girl tight in her grasp and Peter held the doors open for them, trailing along behind them as they made their way through the lobby, coming to a stop in front of Deputy Parrish and the very sheriff himself, who was sporting a new black sling on his arm.

"Sydney, good to see you." Parrish smiled at her and he studied the little girl in her arms.

"You too." Sydney smiled back and looked at the sheriff, who took a step forward and stood between her and Parrish.

"Uh Parrish, this is Peter Hale." Sheriff Stilinski motioned in Peter's direction, who was busy trying to figure out what was going on between the deputy and his mate.

"I'm Sam!" The little girl squealed and raised her hands into the air, Sydney's grip on her tightening so that she didn't fall.

"Your boyfriend is Peter Hale?" Parrish's eyebrow lifted in confusion and Sydney nodded her head yes.

"Mates." The sheriff added quickly.

Parrish looked from Peter, to Sydney and then his eyes locked on the little girl in her arms. Peter let out a low growl at the young deputy but no one seemed to pay any attention to him, instead, they were all looking at Samantha.

"I'm going to assume that's a werewolf thing." Parrish said in a low tone. "She yours?"

"What?" Sydney shot back, eyes widening at Parrish's implication. What was with people assuming that she was someone's mother, first Malia, now Parrish thinking Samantha was her kid? "She's not-"

"I didn't know you and Peter had a kid." Lydia's voice sounded out from a good ten feet away. Sydney locked her eyes on the strawberry blonde and scoffed. The look on Lydia's face was almost sadistic and Sydney knew that the banshee was trying to get under Sydney's skin.

"She's not my kid and to be clear, I don't have any kids out there, Peter's not the father of any of my non-existent children so back off." Sydney glared at Lydia, who simply made a face at the female alpha.

"Might I inquire as to who she is then?" The sheriff broke in.

"Sam!" Samantha lifted her hands into the air.

"Her pack's in hiding, I told her alpha that I'd keep her safe." Sydney answered with a roll of her eyes and locked her gaze onto Peter, who was suspiciously quiet next to her. "I can't believe people keep thinking I have kids, especially with this guy."

"I like this guy." Samantha beamed at Peter and Sydney couldn't help but smile.

"Let's just get this over with." The sheriff sighed and motioned for everyone to head down the hall.

Samantha tightened her grip on Sydney as they started heading in the direction of where Lydia was standing. The sheriff was in the lead, followed closely by Parrish. Sydney separated Peter from the rest of them but as they passed Lydia, Sydney bared her teeth and let out a snarl that only Samantha and Peter would be able to hear. Lydia shook her head and came up the rear as the group headed for a room at the end of the hall.

Samantha looked back and smiled at Peter, who was watching Sydney and Samantha in complete amazement. The little girl seemed to have no qualms about throwing her life into Sydney's hands; she trusted his mate and it made him wonder if maybe there was more to Sydney than he first believed. She clearly had a knack for protecting people; him in the loft when the Mute had attacked and now Samantha. Maybe she was alpha material after all, maybe she'd make an amazing leader, maybe she already was.

"In here." Parrish stopped near the end of the hall and pushed the door open, ushering everyone inside. Sydney wandered into the corner and gently set Samantha on the ground, taking a firm hold of her hand as everyone else entered the room.

There was a large window that looked out into what Sydney could only assume was an interrogation room, which meant that the window wasn't actually a window and was most likely a mirror. Yes, they could see Meredith sitting at the table but she couldn't see them.

Wait a second, Meredith? They were back at the sheriff's station to talk to Meredith again? Sydney's mind drifted to the last time she was in the same room as the two banshees, Lydia had nearly driven Meredith to the brink, so why were they all here now and what the hell did they need Peter for?

Samantha gave a gentle tug on Sydney's hand, bringing her attention downwards. Sydney flashed the girl a reassuring smile but Samantha crooked a finger and motioned for Sydney to 'come here'. Slowly and surely, Sydney crouched down and squatted in front of Samantha, still hanging on to her little hand.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Samantha whispered and Sydney glanced around the room, catching the small smirk on Peter's face. Of course he would hear that. Sydney quickly gathered the girl in her arms, lifted her up and headed for the hallway, tapping Jordan Parrish on the shoulder as she moved.

When the three of them were out of the room and alone in the hallway, Sydney twisted her body so that Samantha was facing the young deputy, who was smiling at the little girl.

"Tell him what you just told me." Sydney urged her on, trying to get the girl in her arms to let Jordan know that they needed a bathroom.

"Uh, mister-"

"Call me Jordan." Parrish nodded and Sydney couldn't help but feel her heart melting. Jordan Parrish was clearly a sweetheart and it was just too bad that he hadn't come into her life sooner, before Peter, because Sydney knew that he would have been good for her, they could have been great _together_.

"Okay, um Mister Jordan I have to go to the bathroom." Samantha admitted shyly, clearly embarrassed about talking to a male about needing to use the facilities.

"No worries, just head on down the hall and swing a right. It's the second door." Jordan offered.

"The one with the toilet in it." Sydney nodded her understanding and Jordan chuckled at her statement. It was amazing how easy things between them worked; maybe Jordan really was a good ally to have.

Samantha waved at him and Sydney took off down the hall, swinging a right where she was supposed to and looking at the rooms off the hallway. Samantha pointed to the second door and when Sydney got closer; she looked inside and smirked at the sight of a toilet off to the side. Setting the little girl on the floor, Sydney watched as Samantha took off inside, shutting the door behind her.

While the little girl used the bathroom, Sydney made herself comfortable, leaning her butt against the wall. She had only been alone for a few seconds but apparently Jordan Parrish let no opportunity go to waste, he was heading right for her, the same charming smile on his face from not long ago.

"You found it okay." He stated.

"Yeah, you give impeccable directions." She teased and tuned her ears in to the sounds inside the bathroom.

"So that's the guy you're seeing then? Peter Hale?"

Sydney let out a sigh and leveled her gaze on him, "yeah. Go ahead, just say it; I know what you're thinking."

"I was just thinking that if he makes you happy then I shouldn't judge." Jordan offered with a smile.

"Sure." Sydney scoffed and stiffened at the sound of the toilet flushing.

"What do you want me to say?"

"I just figured it would be more like 'you deserve better' or 'what are you doing with a complete psychopath'."

"What's that going to accomplish?" He countered.

Sydney gave him a half-hearted shrug, glancing to the side as the door to the bathroom opened and Samantha pranced out. She took a stance in front of Sydney and lifted her hands into the air, waving them about for a few seconds before Sydney reached down and hauled her up into her arms.

"Hi." Samantha chirped and waved at Jordan.

"Hi Sam." Jordan smiled at the little girl before looking up at Sydney. "She's really beautiful."

"She really is." Sydney murmured and Samantha relaxed against Sydney's chest, dropping her head to her shoulder.

"Look," Jordan started and Sydney cocked her head at him, "if you ever need anything, you know you can call me, right?"

"I do." She nodded. "And if _you_ ever need anything you can call _me_."

"I'll hold you to that." Jordan smiled at her and nodded towards the end of the hallway, back in the direction from where they had come from earlier.

Sydney fell in step behind him and watched as he led them back to the room with the mirror in it, the room where Peter and the others were currently gathered, staring at Meredith through the glass. Sydney slipped into the room and moved so that she was standing at the back of the room, Samantha clinging to her. The little girl loosened her grip as Sydney lowered her to the ground and when her feet hit the floor, she rushed towards the vacant chair next to where Peter stood. Lydia and the sheriff were lined up next to him

Letting out a small chuckle, Sydney simply watched as Samantha situated herself in the chair, glancing to the side and catching Peter's gaze. He tossed her a smirk but quickly regained his serious expression, looking right at Meredith through the glass; Parrish had made his way into the other room and was now standing in the corner.

"Her? _That's_ the girl that stole my money?" Peter asked, his eyes now locked on Meredith. Sydney kept her own eyes trained on Samantha, hoping that the little girl wouldn't be too distracting.

"That girl is a banshee, and more dangerous than you think." Lydia countered.

"Oh I think that girl's pilot light went out a long time ago." Peter shot back and turned his attention to Stiles' father. "Sheriff, not to question the unquestionable sterling reputation of your department but are you absolutely sure you got the one?"

"How about you just go in there and see what she has to say?" The sheriff growled back at Peter and Sydney took a step forward, moving to stand behind Samantha.

The little girl scrambled to her feet and Sydney immediately took hold of her before slowly dropping down into the chair, Samantha settling herself on her lap as Peter cautiously stepped away from the glass. Samantha reached out for Peter, who merely hesitated and set his hand on Sydney's shoulder for a split second before walking out of the viewing room and towards the interrogation room.

Samantha made herself comfortable in Sydney's lap and curled up, hugging the alpha tightly. Sydney looked down at her and smiled, hoping that at the very least, this little, innocent girl would make it out of the dead pool situation unscathed. Sydney knew that she wasn't going to be sitting on the sidelines, she was going to go right for Kate, just as soon as she saw her opportunity, but first, she had to get Samantha back with her pack, once it was safe of course.

"What's a banshee?" Samantha pondered out loud and looked up at Sydney, her blue eyes wide and full of wonder.

The sheriff glanced at the two werewolves but locked his eyes back on the interrogation room. The sound from the other room was easily heard via speakers in the viewing room but even if it wasn't, Sydney would have been able to hear every word. Peter had spoken first but Meredith remained quiet, moving her hand out to run her fingers along the side of his face.

"Um, well, sweetheart, a banshee is someone who can predict when someone else is going to die." Sydney answered softly.

"Oh." Samantha looked at the glass and stared at Meredith. "Did that girl in there know that my mommy was going to die?"

Sydney felt her heart breaking at the question and for the first time in a long time, she was glad that Lydia was there to back her up.

"Samantha right?" Lydia piped up. "It's possible, but no one knows for sure if she knew your mother was going to die."

"Okay." Samantha nodded her understanding and managed to get to her feet, standing on Sydney's thighs. Everyone else was watching Peter and Meredith but Samantha was now facing Sydney, leaning in and hugging her arms around her neck. The older wolf gently rested her hands on Samantha's back and held her tightly.

When Peter's arm shot out and latched onto Meredith's wrist, everyone in the viewing room jumped. Lydia leaned forward, her eyes wide as Parrish continued to demand that Peter let go of Meredith. Slowly but surely, Peter forced her hand down and set it on the table.

"Why would you do that?" Peter's voice was softer now and Sydney was starting to get nervous. Meredith clearly knew something, she clearly _knew_ Peter but no one was aware of how.

"They're all gone."

"Oh my god." Lydia's voice pierced the bubble of silence that had taken over the viewing room. "They _have_ met before."

"What are you talking about?" Sydney spoke up and turned her head as Samantha grabbed hold of her hair, running her tiny little hands through it.

"The burns…they're all gone." Meredith's voice was eerie and Sydney grasped the girl tight, standing up with her on her hip. Samantha beamed at Sydney but the female alpha set the little girl on the chair, letting her keep hold of her hand as she moved a little closer to the glass, more interested in Meredith now than she ever had been.

"Meredith, you put everyone, including my nephew and my daughter on a death list. Don't you think you owe us the slightest explanation of why?" Peter was demanding now, obviously frustrated at the whole thing. Meredith somehow knew of him from before, sometime after the fire that had destroyed his family.

"You said it had to be kept secret." Meredith leaned her body forwards and spoke in a raspy tone.

"I said- I said that, to you?"

"You said it."

"Meredith, allow me to remind you, yet again, we have _never_ met, _ever_."

"What is he doing?" Lydia murmured.

"What the fuck is going on?" Sydney grumbled and at Samantha's gasp, she glanced down at the little girl.

"You swore." Samantha giggled and gave a little tug on Sydney's arm. Sydney pressed her lips together but didn't say anything; instead, she focused her attention back on the two in the interrogation room.

"You don't remember?" Meredith pressed and Sydney lifted her palm up, resting it against the glass. She dropped her forehead against it and just watched Peter, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"No, but maybe you do." Peter made a move to get out of his chair and Sydney ripped her hand out of Samantha's hold at the same time that Lydia cried out 'don't'.

Peter shoved the table out of the way, leapt to his feet and set his sights on Deputy Jordan Parrish, shoving him to the ground before wrapping his fingers around Meredith's neck. Before anyone could make another move, Peter's claws broke the flesh at the back of her neck and Meredith let out a cry.

The sheriff and Lydia both rushed out of the room and into the one containing the once fallen Parrish who was now on his feet with a gun pointed at Peter, not to mention the frozen Meredith with Peter's hands around her neck and the unmoving Peter Hale.

"Sweetheart, can you do me a favour, please?" Sydney turned her back to the glass and knelt down in front of Samantha. The blond nodded her head yes and smiled at the alpha. "Can you promise me you will stay here, don't move your butt from that chair, okay? Can you do that?"

Samantha let out a giggle and nodded her head yes once again. Well Sydney figured she wasn't about to win any parenting awards for bringing Samantha to the sheriff's station but hey, at least the girl was alive, right?

Rising up to her full height, she paused, pressing a kiss to the top of the girl's head. Sydney cautiously made her way out of the viewing room and into the interrogation room, maneuvering between the sheriff and Deputy Parrish, her hands in the air in surrender. She reached out and grabbed hold of Lydia's shoulder, gently pushing her back, away from Peter.

"What are you doing?" Parrish asked in a hushed tone and Sydney shook her head. What the hell _was_ she doing? She wasn't entirely sure, hell, she didn't know what she was doing most of the time anymore, all she knew was that she wasn't going to let the sheriff or the deputy get hurt, nor was she going to let them hurt Peter.

"Just, we have to let this play out." Sydney hissed back at him and approached Peter's form, his eyes shut and his body stiff and rigid. She dropped her hand to her side and forced her claws out before lifting her palm up, resting it against the side of his neck.

"Don't." Lydia barked, panic evident in her tone.

"Why?"

"You could kill them both." Lydia cried out.

"I was just going to try to force him out of her head." Sydney argued and Lydia wrapped her fingers around Sydney's wrists tightly, pulling her arm away.

"You can't."

"Fine." Sydney scoffed, not bothering to put up a fight. She dropped her arms to her sides and tuned her ears in, listening for Samantha's heartbeat, which was steady in the other room.

The officers slowly lowered their guns, everyone watching as Meredith let out a gasp and tilted her head back. When the strange girl started muttering strange words, Sydney shook her head and ran her hand down Peter's back.

"Do you hear that? Is she saying something?" The sheriff asked in a whisper.

"Can you understand that?" Parrish added quickly, looking right at Lydia.

"Of course she can." Sydney muttered and planted her hands on her hips.

"I can, I can hear it perfectly. She was in the hospital, the same hospital."

"Same as who?" Parrish pressed.

"Peter. It was right after the fire. Meredith could hear him."

"Hear what?" The sheriff broke in.

"Everything."

Sydney shook her head at them all and stealthily made her way back into the viewing room to check on Samantha. The girl, much to Sydney's surprise, was sitting in the chair in the exact way that she had left her. When Sydney moved closer to her, Samantha reached up and grinned, making Sydney smile in the process.

"Oh my sweet little wolf." Sydney murmured and took hold of her, hugging her tight and letting the little girl nuzzle her nose against her neck. She tried to ignore the conversation going on in the other room, focusing on the steady beating of Samantha's little heart as Samantha's fingers tangled in Sydney's hair.

"You're beautiful." Samantha squealed.

"Aw, well you're just as beautiful." Sydney replied, feeling the tiny hands moving through her hair once again.

"Look!" Samantha shrieked and pointed to the glass, her eyes wide with wonder as Peter's hold on Meredith released and he fell backwards.

"Stay put okay, I'll be right back." Sydney quickly forced the words out and peeled herself away from the blonde, running out of the viewing room and bursting into the interrogation room, her eyes wide as the sheriff drew his gun once again and pointed it right at Peter.

"It was your idea and you don't even remember." Lydia accused and Sydney lowered her body towards the floor, bringing out her razor sharp canines. She stepped forward, trying to move in front of Peter but she hesitated, listening as he responded.

"Are you kidding me?" Peter drawled, looking up at the man with the gun.

"Hands where I can see them."

"How the hell was I supposed to remember any of that?" Peter slowly pushed his butt away from the floor, his hands out at his sides. He made his way to his feet and looked around the room.

"She got it from you." Lydia forced the words out.

"I was out of my mind. Do you know what it's like for one of us to be in a coma? Paralyzed but cognizant? You try not going crazy." Peter shot back.

"Guys can't we just…lower the guns, please?" Sydney cut in and lifted her hands up into the air. She carefully stole a glance into the mirror and hoped that Samantha was preoccupied and that she wasn't watching Peter with a gun in his face.

"She was listening to you." Parrish said firmly, taking a stance behind Meredith.

"She was listening to the ranting and raving of a lunatic." Peter retorted and Sydney let out a snort. "A former lunatic, I'm much healthier now."

"Sure." Sydney muttered but she didn't falter.

"I had nothing to do with this." Peter seemed slightly more desperate now.

"If she was following your lead on this, then how do we know there isn't more?" The sheriff questioned. Sydney slid her body closer to Peter now, stepping in front of him and ultimately in front of the gun. Peter's hand came out and grasped at her hips, hanging on to her as she stood in between him and the gun.

"Stealing my own money, really?" Peter argued.

"Well you're going to use it anyway."

"Stop. Stop it, this is what she wants, it's why she's here. Look around sheriff, there's three people in here right now, three people still on the dead pool. Me, Parrish and Meredith."

"But not them." Parrish ground out and suddenly Sydney found her heart pounding against her chest. No, no there was no way that Jordan Parrish could possibly believe she was part of this, he had to know, he had to realize that Sydney was just an innocent bystander, that she had nothing to do with anything that Peter did, he had to know that, he just had to, didn't he?

"Lydia's right, we don't want to kill each other." Peter fumbled over his words and Sydney held her breath, trying to convey with just her eyes that she wasn't part of it, she wasn't part of Peter's plan, whether he remembered it or not.

"The only person I'm pointing a gun at is you." The sheriff responded and Sydney cleared her throat. "Well technically her but I only want to shoot you."

"Then you better make it a perfect shot sheriff because I don't go down easy." Peter was right back to being threatening; even his voice was slightly different.

She whipped her head around and leveled her glare on him, wondering what the hell he was trying to do. Here she was standing in front of him, willing to protect him, and all he was doing was egging the sheriff on.

"Really?" She widened her eyes at him. Peter was undeterred by her look; his eyes were locked on the barrel of the gun, a cocky smirk on his face. She took a step forward and forced his hands away from her hips, turning her back to the gun and looking at him. She swore she saw his confident demeanour falter but Sydney merely squeezed her eyes shut and waited for him to dare the sheriff to shoot him once again.

"I'm willing to bet that a bullet between the eyes doesn't heal real fast, not even for your kind." The sheriff ground out and cocked the gun, taking a step forward. Sydney took a deep breath in and prayed that everyone would just cease their threats and movements soon enough.

"Stop. Please stop." Lydia begged and Sydney straightened her body up, opening her eyes and staring into Peter's. She knew that her irises were red, she could feel the fire in her body now and she wasn't going to let anyone hurt him, no matter what. That was what alphas did, this is what she was going to do.

"This department is getting more corrupt by the second." Peter was pressing his luck now and she knew it. "What are you going to charge me with sheriff?"

"Just stop." Sydney hissed at him and bared her teeth, desperate to get him to submit to her, to let it go and move on for the time being. She could hear Samantha's heart pounding too and Sydney knew that the little girl was terrified, probably because Sydney currently had a gun pointed at the back of her head.

"How are you going to explain _this_ to a judge? Telepathic girl overhears thoughts of comatose werewolf and decides to enact his plans for retribution. They're going to be pointing a gun at your head, asking you to go quietly."

"Stop." Sydney ground the word out.

"Let him go." Lydia added quickly. "You have to let him go."

"I'd take the word of a banshee sheriff, we leave, no triggers pulled, no blood shed."

Sydney's eyes widened at his words but prayed that the sheriff behind her was calming down, at least enough that his finger wouldn't accidentally hit the trigger and send a bullet in to the back of her skull.

When she heard the gun rattling slightly behind her, she turned her head and let out a low sigh, slowly facing the sheriff. He was beyond pissed and Sydney knew that the next time she showed her face to the sheriff, or the one and only Deputy Parrish, she better have a good reason. Peter had, singlehandedly, just ruined any sort of truce she had between the officers of the law.

Sydney took a step forward, desperately trying to get across that she didn't mean to hurt anyone. The sheriff shook his head at her and waved her forward, Sydney rushing out the door and heading right for the terrified girl in the other room. She gathered Samantha in her arms and hugged her tightly, watching as the girl's blue eyes filled with tears. Samantha buried her face into Sydney's shoulders and let out a sob as the female alpha stepped back out into the hallway.

"That's twice Peter, there's not going to be a third." The sheriff threatened and Sydney shook her head at the older man.

Parrish locked his gaze on Sydney and she watched as his cold, hard exterior faltered. The young deputy gave her a slight nod and Sydney knew that he wasn't totally against her, that the sheriff wasn't against her either. They had to understand though, they had to know that she wasn't aware of Peter's plan; she was merely his mate, the girl that he loved.

"Thank you." Sydney said quietly and Parrish's jaw clenched.

"And you," the sheriff directed his attention towards her now, "if you step in front of my gun one more time-"

"You wouldn't shoot an alpha now would you?" Peter cut him off and watched as Lydia's face fell.

"She's an alpha!" Lydia screeched and Meredith struggled to get to her feet, Parrish immediately grabbing hold of her in an attempt to calm her down. "No, no she can't be, she can't be an alpha! That's impossible!"

Sydney held her breath as she cradled Samantha's body against her, trying to get the little girl to stop crying. Peter's fingers bit into the back of her neck and he forced her forward, leading her out of the sheriff's station.

When they stepped outside, into the fresh air, Sydney crouched down and set Samantha's feet on the ground. The little girl peeled her body away from Sydney's and looked into her eyes. Sydney's stomach dropped at the heartbreaking sight of Samantha's eyes filled with tears, her cheeks streaked from her crying.

"It's okay sweetheart, it's okay." Sydney murmured and Samantha lunged at Sydney once again, letting out a loud sob. Sydney held the girl tight against her chest and lifted her up, setting her glare on Peter.

"Come along Sydney."

"Yeah…yeah we've got _a lot_ to talk about." Sydney glared at him and stepped forward, heading right for the car with Samantha tucked in her hold.

They certainly did have a lot to talk about and Peter could start by explaining why he had revealed her alpha status to the strawberry blonde banshee.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Just want to get a feel for how many of you would want to read a sequel? Leave me a review or PM me to let me know what you guys want, and if you do want a sequel, maybe there's some things that you want IN it?_**

**_I'd love to know how you guys feel about Sam, do you love her, hate her, want to see more of her? And then more Parrish and Sydney! How did you guys like the infamous interrogation room scene? Has Sydney destroyed the trust she had built up between her and the Sheriff? What about her and Parrish? Are you guys liking Sam and Sydney together? What about Peter and Sam? How about Lydia FINALLY getting let in on the whole 'Sydney being an alpha' secret?_**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**__****_WickedlyMinx: When she has her own kid, yes it will be the cutest thing ever :P thanks so much for the review and I love hearing from you! _**

**__****__****_cecld16: I'm just curious here, do you believe that Scott has any trust in Sydney? Obviously he should be a little wary of her since she IS with Peter but do you think that on some level, she has the potential to be trustworthy? Thanks so much for your continued reviews and support!_**

**__****_OutlawqueenFTW_****__****_: Peter can't always have a smooth relationship, Sydney's just going that extra mile to make sure that Sam's protected :P thanks so much for the review!_**

**__****_tls431: You're not the only one rooting for Sydney and Parrish, they are rather good together and he would be so good to her. Peter could easily break her, he could also force her to become stronger. She definitely has options. Thanks so much for the review and I look forward to hearing from you again :)_**

**_Readingbeyondyourvocab: Major shite went down, why yes it did. It seems that there are a lot of people that don't really like Malia out there, Sydney will probably never like her. Yes, more to come! Thank you so much and I can't wait to see how you're liking this latest installment!_**

**_LirealAion: Liam is a sweetheart, for sure! Kira and Sydney would make awesome friends if they had the time, hey, maybe she'll be Sydney's first real female friend! We can only hope that Sam will be good for Peter AND Sydney because it is about to get a little crazy!_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


	28. Chapter 28

_**The Wolf You Feed**_

_Summary: __Sequel to The Last of Us: Sydney should have known from the start that her war wasn't going to end with the demise of the nogitsune, especially not since she fell in love with Peter Hale. Today was a painful reminder that the wounds would heal but the scars would always remain. Season 4: Peter Hale/OC_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Teen Wolf, Sydney however is all mine.**

**Chapter 28****:**

"Is she asleep?" Peter's voice was softer now and Sydney figured it was because he knew she was unhappy about what had gone down at the sheriff's station.

Not only had it been discovered that Peter had played a part in the dead pool all along but he had also revealed her alpha status to the last person that Sydney had wanted to find out about her. Lydia Martin didn't need to know anything more than Sydney was willing to let her know but Peter had smashed that all to hell when he had brought up that she was an alpha. Now the banshee knew what Sydney was capable of, Lydia knew that she was more than a beta following Peter like a lost dog.

Sydney let out a growl of annoyance at him as she strode through the apartment, moving right by him as he sat perched on the stool at the island. She was fed up with him undermining her, going behind her back and giving away things that she would have much rather kept a secret, at least for the time being and until she knew that things were starting to calm down.

"I finally got her to sleep, yes." Sydney shot back and ripped open the fridge door, shoving her hand in and grabbing a bottle of water. "No thanks to you and your stupid bullshit! God what the hell were you thinking?"

"What was _I_ thinking? You're the one who brought a child into this apartment!" Peter shot back. She didn't figure he was going to play the role of apologetic werewolf mate, no, when Peter Hale was backed into a corner, he'd do everything he could in order to claw his way out, just like Sydney.

"To _protect_ her!" Sydney hissed back at him, trying to convey that she was angry without actually yelling at him. Samantha was asleep in the bedroom and it had taken Sydney forever to get her to calm down. All of the drive back to the apartment had consisted of Sydney singing softly to her and whispering promises that it would be okay.

"Then don't you think it would have been beneficial to stay away from the interrogation room?" Peter leveled his glare on her and she brought out her alpha eyes, staring him down. She threw the bottle of water back into the fridge, not flinching as a small crash was heard from inside, before slamming the door and crossing the floor. Her palms slammed against the top of the island and she leaned over the surface, attempting to get right in his face. Peter cocked his head at her but didn't move a muscle otherwise.

"I think you need to back off." She growled and bared her teeth, her razor sharp canines clearly present.

"I didn't ask you to come." Peter pointed out.

"No but you know damn well that I go where you go, no matter what. Do recall the time I followed you into the sewer so that you could talk to Kate, even though everything in my body was screaming at me to snap her neck. It doesn't matter where you go or why, I go with you." She explained, curling her lip back. Peter wasn't going to admit it out loud but he was slightly anxious as to what she was thinking, terribly turned on but definitely slightly anxious as well.

"That may be true and I can accept that but I did _not_ ask you to step in front of that gun."

"Well it didn't look like you had it handled." Sydney shot back and pushed herself away from the island. She threw her hands up into the air and let them gently fall onto the top of her head, running her fingers furiously through her hair. "Don't you get it Peter? I am your alpha, whether you like it or not, I will protect you, I will put my life on the line in order to keep you alive. It's my job."

"I can handle myself."

"You can _not_. You've made so many enemies it's not even funny. A guy without a mouth threw a tomahawk at you. The sheriff has had his gun pointed at you not once but twice, _twice_ Peter! Lydia can't stand being within twenty feet of you and right now your only ally is Kate Argent-"

"Well she's the only one who's on the same page." Peter scoffed.

"She is a psychopath who _burned_ your family alive." Sydney growled and Peter looked away from her, refusing to meet her eyes now. "Oh my bad, did you forget that part? See what I don't get is that you've not only told the sheriff that it was horrifying being in a coma, you also told Malia. If you bring it up so much and it was that terrible, why, no seriously, _why the fuck_ are you working with the woman who _put you there_!?" Sydney was clearly no longer worried about waking Samantha up, her voice rose and she was nearly shouting at him now. Her chest was heaving and Peter couldn't help but study her figure. "Explain that to me."

His eyes ran up and down her body and for the first time since she walked through his door, he wasn't entirely sure how to handle her. On one hand he could be honest and tell her exactly what his plan was, that he was going to try to kill Scott McCall and that Kate Argent was along for the ride. On the other hand, he wasn't entirely sure where her loyalties laid anymore.

Sydney was way too close with Stiles Stilinski for Peter to wholeheartedly trust her with the idea of killing Scott but at the same time she had just admitted that she was going to go with him no matter what, even if it was to talk to Kate. Was he supposed to risk exposing his plan to her, knowing that she wasn't entirely on his side?

"Kate's a valuable asset but _only_ temporarily." Peter answered firmly and kept his eyes locked with hers. He watched in awe as the red in her own irises faded slightly, giving her an eerie, dim glow to her eyes. Well that was something new, something Peter hadn't really seen before.

"I _will_ kill her. I promise you that." Sydney growled.

"I don't doubt that."

"She ruined it, she ruined it all. She burned down my house, she was involved with the slaughter of my parents and if she thinks she's going to get away with it, she's sorely mistaken because when I'm done with her, she's going to wish she had just stayed dead." Sydney deadpanned and let out a sigh. Oh yes, this was precisely the Sydney that Peter could handle. She was overwhelmed, unsure of what to do when it came to him and Kate at that exact moment. This was when he could sink his claws into her, metaphorically, and get her to do as he pleased. On second thought, digging his claws into her literally didn't sound so bad either.

"I'm aware of your feelings towards the woman."

"I know you're aware Peter, I just don't know that you quite understand how much that it all hurts me." She argued.

"To reiterate your point, I was burned alive; I think I can understand how serious this whole issue is."

"It's not an issue." Sydney groaned. "Kate needs to die and you've gone and made a deal with her. How am I supposed to kill her when you need her for some other plan?!"

Peter dropped his palms against the island countertop and gave her a half-hearted shrug. He wasn't entirely opposed to watching Sydney rip Kate Argent to pieces, he just didn't want it to happen yet, not until his own plan was complete. Sydney slammed her fist onto the counter and cracked the tiled surface simply from the force. When Peter caught sight of her eyes, they were bright red again. Okay, she was definitely pissed.

"You'll get your chance soon enough, just give me a little longer and then she's all yours." Peter wasn't entirely sure if she believed him or not, hell at this point, he wasn't entirely sure if he believed himself anymore.

A tiny piece of him wanted to give it all up, to stop the plan where it was and to just accept that she wanted him, that she loved him the way he was. Maybe in the future another opportunity would come up for him to become an alpha again, maybe it wouldn't, it was clear that all she wanted was him, the way he was.

A bigger part of him wanted nothing more than to destroy the boy who had started everything. Regret at biting Scott flooded him every day and he couldn't stop thinking about what would have happened if it had been someone else, anyone else, that night. It was too late for 'ifs' though and Peter was going to fix it, he was going to make everything right, starting with his own status within the pack.

"No, you listen and you listen good, if I see my opportunity to take her down, I'm taking it. You're not going to stop me; in fact, you're not going to stop me from doing anything anymore. I'm the alpha and you need to get that through your thick skull." She ground each and every word out but Peter noticed that she forced her sharp canines to disappear and her brown eyes took over from the red eyes of an alpha.

"Just remember who you come home to."

"Whose side are you on?" She shot out at him. "If you're suggesting that I need this apartment, you're sorely mistaken. You underestimate how many allies of my own that I have."

"Like Deputy Parrish? The sheriff? If I recall correctly, you turned on them both tonight simply by standing in front of me, by showing them that you're willing to protect _me_ at all costs." Peter pointed out.

"I think you're forgetting that I have two perfectly capable former alphas living in my grandparents' house in Colorado. If it comes down to it, I'll call them, tell them I need their help, you know they owe me a favour or two seeing as I saved Aiden's life and all." Sydney planted her hands on her hips and squeezed her flesh slightly, trying to make herself hurt so that she could let the human side of her take over control. Her wolf was currently clawing desperately at the surface, wanting nothing more than to be unleashed so that she could rip Peter to shreds.

"They wouldn't make it in time." Peter scoffed and Sydney's heart lurched at his statement. He was right, he was definitely right. Colorado was far away, far enough away that she'd have to call them a day in advance for them to get to her side, that was if they were in Colorado at all. She had given them the key and had sent them on their way but they hadn't actually said they were going to go to her house.

"I have Derek." Sydney nodded.

"Need I remind you that his eyes are no longer blue? Whatever Kate did to him is causing him to lose that spark inside of him that makes him superhuman."

"Doesn't matter, I still have him and if I have Derek, well then I also have Scott."

Peter was taken aback by her admission. Surely Scott McCall didn't trust Sydney, he couldn't possibly. But if what she said was true, if Derek was really on her side, then was it so farfetched to think that maybe Scott would back her up? Was this what their relationship came down to, who each of them had backing them up?

Wasn't it supposed to be the two of them working together? Having each other's backs? Where had it all gone so wrong?

"Why _are_ we _really_ fighting?" Peter asked softly, tilting his head down and looking up at her through his eyelashes.

"Because you're an asshole!" She shrieked and both of them fell silent, listening for any sign of life from the sleeping child in their bedroom. When all that was heard was the girl's even breathing, Sydney stepped around the island and took a stance next to him. Peter turned to face her and set his feet on the floor, his hands reaching out towards her.

Sydney squirmed as his palms came to rest on her hips but she didn't break his hold. Peter seized her moment of weakness and ran his hands over her back, drawing her closer, pulling her body against his. When her chest was flush against him, he gingerly pressed his forehead against hers.

"You knew that before." Peter murmured and tipped his face back slightly, pressing his soft lips against hers.

She melted in his hold and if his arms hadn't been around her, she knew that she would have collapsed right onto the floor. Peter leaned back and lifted a hand up, brushing her hair back and tucking it behind her ear.

"I just want you Peter." She whispered and ran her palms up his abdomen, resting her hands against his chest.

"You'll always have me."

"Promise me." She said in a breathy whisper. "Promise me that I will _always_ have you."

"I promise you Sydney, you will _always_ have me." Peter's voice was soft and she relaxed against him.

"Now how about an apology?" Sydney baited and her right hand slipped upwards, her fingers gently drumming against the side of his neck.

"For what?"

"You can start with the whole 'telling Lydia I'm an alpha' thing and maybe end it off with how you scared the living daylights out of that little girl in the other room."

"I'm sorry." He breathed.

"For what?" She egged him on.

"Everything."

Sydney let out a small huff and dropped her head down to rest against his shoulder. She knew it wasn't easy for him to apologize, hell he probably didn't think he did anything wrong so for him to say the words, for him to say he was sorry for everything, well, she couldn't really ask for much more than that, could she?

"I love you." She murmured, her lips brushing against his skin.

"I love you." He murmured right back.

Peter simply held her, wondering what the hell he was going to do now.

_**XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX**_

Sydney wasn't about to leave her newly acquired little girl and Peter wasn't about to openly tell her that he was going to see Kate in the sewers. Without actually saying a word to each other, they had come to a mutual understanding that she'd stay in the apartment in order to protect Samantha and he was going to go out and do whatever it was that he needed to do.

She didn't ask him what his plan was, she didn't warn him to be careful, she simply flashed him a small, sad smile and disappeared into the bedroom to curl up with the innocent little blonde girl named Samantha. She was clearly giving him the opportunity to leave her in the apartment without another fight.

The argument had put him on edge. He hadn't been expecting her to blow up at him, hell it had always taken a lot for her to blow up at him before but Peter held on to the belief that they were at a good place in their relationship, they were working well together but apparently she had been bottling it up inside and tonight, after the whole incident at the sheriff's station, everything had come to a head.

Pushing his concern over her anger to the back of his mind, Peter had slipped out the front door, pulling his phone out of his pocket and sending her a text message as he descended the stairs.

_Went out, I'll be back soon, I promise._

He knew it was the coward's way out but he knew that if she asked him where he was going, he wouldn't be able to lie to her, not anymore. To him, it was easier not to say anything that he didn't have to. When his phone vibrated in his palm, he lifted the device up and looked at her response.

_Be careful and don't get yourself killed._

A small smile formed on his lips and Peter continued down the rest of the steps with a spring in his step. When he hit the bottom of the stairs, landing on the main floor, he paused and glanced upwards, debating if he should turn around and go right back to her and take her in his arms. With a shake of his head, his motives became clearer than they had been mere minutes ago. He had to talk to Kate; he needed her to know that he was still with her, that their plan was still a go.

The sky outside was dark by the time he made his way to the manhole cover that would lead directly to their meeting place. Moving like a shadow, Peter jammed his fingers into the tiny holes on the steel cover and he lifted the circular hunk of metal upwards the slightest bit. It made a nice scraping noise against the asphalt as he slid it to the side.

Pausing once more, Peter glanced around and made sure the coast was clear before dropping down into the hole and sliding the manhole cover back over to seal him inside. Inhaling a deep breath, he slowly made his way down to the end of the dank and dark passageway, moving to stand on the walkway near a pretty consistent drip from the ceiling.

Kate Argent sauntered around the corner at the opposite end of the hall and Peter let out a small sigh before turning to face her straight on. He strode towards her but stopped a few feet away and spun back around, pacing back from the direction in which he had just come from.

"You look nervous." Kate remarked smartly and Peter bit back a growl forming in his throat. Maybe Sydney had a point, how was it this easy to work alongside someone who had completely decimated his family and left him comatose for six years? Sydney wasn't wrong in that regard, if it baffled her when she found out that he was willing to work with the former hunter, then maybe it was time to up the ante, maybe it was time to put yet another plan into place.

"I'm not nervous" Peter hesitated and shook his head. "I'm rattled. I don't like being rattled."

"Aw is this because of your little girlfriend? The alpha right? Your alpha? Is she not giving you the love and attention that you deserve?" Kate baited and Peter simply turned and glared at her.

"She's not the problem." Peter ground out. "And don't you mention her ever again."

"Then what is? What's so important to you that you're _rattled_?"

"Certain things were brought to my attention." Peter locked his eyes on her and memories of the fire took precedent in his head. The pain, the agony, the aftermath of the flames licking at his skin, enveloping his body and burning him alive. Then there were the memories of having to lay by himself for six years in a coma, waiting for his strength to slowly come back.

It was too much to ignore, Sydney had made that much clear to him, even if she didn't know it. Kate Argent wasn't an ally; she was merely a means to an end, a tool for him to get what he wanted. The image of Sydney standing over Kate's lifeless body appeared in his mind and a small smirk toyed on his lips.

"Like what?" Kate's gravelly voice questioned. "You can deny it all you want but I know that that girl you've been sleeping with is getting inside your head."

"She's not just some girl." Peter countered nonchalantly, trying to keep his temper in check. Had he not just told Kate not to talk about Sydney?

"Why don't you tell me how come you haven't just killed her already and taken the alpha spark from her?" Kate drawled as she remained casually leaning against the side of the sewer. "It wouldn't be that hard. Wait for her to fall asleep, claw out her throat like you did mine. If you're lucky maybe she'd survive and come back as some other supernatural creature."

"She's part of something bigger." Peter answered vaguely, wanting Kate to drop the entire conversation.

"What you really mean is that she's more important to you than even I could have known."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Kate was blatantly calling him out on his feelings for the girl and it shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did. He couldn't have been that obvious and if he was, how many other people knew how he really felt about Sydney Vance, especially those that he didn't want to know.

"She's valuable." Peter stated and hoped that Kate would leave it at that.

"Oh I know she is, she's an alpha, that in itself means she's valuable but that doesn't change my question. How come you don't just kill her and take it from her? It'd be too easy-"

"She's _part_ of something _bigger_." Peter repeated his words, this time putting emphasis on the 'bigger' part, desperately hoping Kate would drop it.

"Alright, alright. I won't push it. I'm going to warn you though, if I get my chance with her, I won't go easy on her." Kate laid it out and Peter sucked in a breath, trying to keep his composure. He had faith in Sydney that she could rip Kate to pieces; the only thing that bothered him about the inevitable battle between the two women was that Kate didn't play fair. Kate had guns, she had the berserkers and she wouldn't stick to the rules. Sydney, in a fair fight, could take Kate out, there was no doubt in his mind but that was in a _fair fight_.

"Let's get back to the reason as to why I'm down here, fighting off the rats for your attention."

"You said you were nervous." Kate offered with a shrug.

"No I said I was rattled."

"And you don't like being rattled." Kate said with a roll of her eyes. "But it's over, the dead pool's done, and if you need to be reminded, everything else is going exactly your way."

"Not exactly my way." Peter countered, recalling his argument with Sydney before he had left the apartment. The whole exchange hadn't sat well with Peter, then there was the added complication of the little blonde girl that Sydney had brought home. He wasn't really concerned with Samantha's well-being, the only reason he didn't want the little girl to get hurt was because of Sydney.

If he let anything happen to the child, then he'd have hell to pay and Peter didn't want to have to face off against his own mate, not now, not ever.

"Maybe every little piece in your game didn't move _just_ as predicted, but they still moved perfectly into place."

Peter stopped pacing and glanced upwards, watching the water forming droplets on the ceiling before breaking away from the dank surface and falling to the pool of water below. He cautiously extended his hand out in front of him and caught the droplets before they had a chance to make it to the two inch deep river of water under the walkway.

"Not perfectly." Peter mumbled and he didn't have to turn around to hear Kate pushing herself off the wall, her footsteps echoing in the passageway. She closed in on him but he refused to meet her eyes.

"You want to bail on the plan." Kate accused him, clear as day, of wanting to back out. Peter wasn't sure that he didn't want to bail, but it was too late to turn back, they had passed the point of no return already.

"Of course not, not when I'm this close. Not when I'm this close to killing Scott McCall." Peter brought his fist together and he stared straight ahead, his eyes boring into the wall. Kate didn't say another word as she closed the distance between them, giving him a rough pat on the shoulder, signifying that he had made the right choice in her eyes.

Peter waited for her footsteps to fade away to nothing before he began his own journey back out of the sewers, heading for the same manhole that he had used to get below the road.

Once his feet were on solid ground and the cover to the hole was securely in place, Peter made his way towards the sidewalk and began the short journey back to the apartment where he knew that Sydney would be waiting for him.

**_XxxxxxXxxxxxXxxxxxX_**

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Sydney's starting to gain some confidence eh, would you all like to see her turn her back on Peter in order to keep herself aligned with Stiles and Scott? A little glimpse into Kate's feelings towards Sydney, do you think she's oblivious to how important Sydney really is to Peter or do you think she knows exactly what Sydney means to him? _**

**__****_I absolutely adore getting feedback from you guys! If you have any comments, concerns, questions on anything (including Sydney as a character) or something you want to know about the story itself, please feel free to PM me or leave a review._**

_**Thank you to everyone who's reading this story and thank you to those who have added it to their favourites or alerts!** _

**_Guest: It would seem that you're not the only one who wants a sequel and I think maybe I can make that happen! Thanks so much for the review!_**

**_19irene19: Incredible, your favourite so far!? Aww thanks so much! How did you feel about this chapter?_**

**_cecld16: I'm hoping that maybe Sydney will surprise you, she's not bad, not really, she just got mixed up with someone who's a little on the unstable side :P She's hiding the fact that she's an alpha because a) Peter sort of told her to (it gives her an advantage because it'd surprise the enemy) and b) with the whole deadpool list happening, she wouldn't want to accidentally let the wrong person know and have her name added. I hope you liked this latest chapter and thank you soooo much for the review! I hope, maybe, that helped._**

**__****_WickedlyMinx: A sequel with pregnant Sydney...sounds exciting to me. Uh the res eye reveal might happen by the end of the story, you'll just have to wait and see_**

**__****_Luna888_****__****_: MORE! I think I can do that, how did you like this latest installment? Thanks so much for the review! _**

**_LirealAion: Sydney knows that papa Stilinski is a really good ally to have, she also knows that she needs other people in her life besides Peter. Ha, yes, Kira is next on her 'steal these people to become my friends' list lol. Another pregnant Sydney request, I'll see what I can do ;)_**

**_Thank you so much you guys!_**

**_If you have any ideas, questions, comments or concerns, feel free to PM me or leave me a review!_**


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